On the afternoon of August 2, 2022, Presley C. Eze Jr., a 36-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by a police officer at a Chevron gas station in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The incident began when a gas station clerk called 911 to report that a shirtless man had left the store with a can of beer without paying for it.
Las Cruces Police Officer Brad Lunsford was the first to arrive at the gas station on South Valley Drive.
He found Eze in the passenger seat of a parked car and began questioning him. According to investigators, the conversation was initially calm. After a second officer, Keegan Arbogast, arrived on the scene, the tone of the interaction changed. The officers decided to arrest Eze after being unable to verify his identity.
When the officers tried to take him into custody, they forcibly pulled the unarmed Eze from the vehicle. A struggle ensued, and Eze resisted the arrest. The scuffle ended up on the ground, with Eze on top of one of the officers. During the fight, Eze got his hand on the officer’s Taser, which had fallen from its holster. However, the Taser was never deployed, and evidence later showed it was in a locked position, rendering it unusable. As the struggle continued, Officer Lunsford drew his duty weapon and fired a single shot into the back left side of Eze’s head at point-blank range. Eze died at the scene.
The New Mexico Attorney General's Office launched an investigation into the shooting. After reviewing body-camera footage and consulting with use-of-force experts, the office concluded that Lunsford's use of deadly force was not reasonable under the circumstances and that less lethal options could have been used. In October 2023, Lunsford was arrested and charged with voluntary manslaughter with a firearm enhancement. He pleaded not guilty in December 2023.
The trial for the former police officer began in early February 2025. Prosecutors argued that Lunsford used excessive force in response to the theft of a single can of beer. On February 12, 2025, a jury found Brad Lunsford guilty of voluntary manslaughter with a firearm enhancement.
Following the conviction, Lunsford’s defense attorney filed motions for a new trial, claiming that two jurors had been improperly replaced during the proceedings. In March 2025, the judge reversed an earlier decision to keep Lunsford in custody and ordered his release on conditions while the post-trial defense motions are resolved.
