Nov. 26 – Police lapel camera footage shows a brief, frantic scene moments before Santa Fe officers shot and killed a transgender man who was reportedly in a mental health crisis.
Police gunfire killed 33-year-old Gracen Coon on September 22 in what was the fifth shooting by Santa Fe police this year. Two others were also fatal.
Coon’s wife, Lilli Gordon, had called 911 and reported that her husband was in a mental health crisis and was armed with a box cutter.
Police referred to Coon in reports by the legal name Stephanie Coon, noting that the deceased was “identified as a male” but had not gone through the legal process to change his name and gender. A close acquaintance of Coon’s has said they prefer gender-neutral pronouns, but an attorney for Coon’s estate uses male pronouns.
State police are investigating the shooting, but more than two months later the agency has provided no information on its progress.
One of the videos shows the shooting happened within a minute of officers arriving at Coon’s home on La Placita Circle at dawn.
A time stamp reads 6:25 a.m. when two Santa Fe police officers – David Gallegos and Charles Ovalle – run to the front door of Coon’s home and open the door, shouting, “Santa Fe police – get out of the house now.”
With guns drawn, the officers order Coon – who can be seen just inside the door – to come out, and Coon emerges from the front door with both hands raised, each showing an object.
“I have nothing,” Coon says. “You have a box cutter, drop it,” one of the officers replies.
Officers back into the yard and one of them tells Coon to “drop the gun” as Coon steps from the porch to the sidewalk. Red and green dots indicate laser targeting is visibly aimed at Coon’s torso and legs.
“I have nothing,” says Coon, and then: “I don’t want to live.”
“We’re going to help you,” an officer says, and Coon responds, “I believe you,” as he takes a step forward.
Then three shots ring out – apparently fired by Gallegos – and Coon falls backwards.
Paramedics arrive just over two minutes later and take Coon to an ambulance.
The fatal incident could lead to lawsuits against the city and county over the handling of the call. Attorney Brian Egolf – who represents Coon’s estate – filed tort notices with both the city of Santa Fe and the county reporting center in late September.
Egolf, those masculine pronouns and the honorific “Mr.” for Coon, Coon’s wife wrote, “called the Santa Fe County Regional Emergency Communications Center for a welfare check on Mr. Coon’s behalf, insisting she call the dispatcher that he was not dangerous.”
“Upon SFPD’s arrival, no de-escalation tactics were employed against Mr. Coon before an SFPD officer fired his service weapon at Mr. Coon, killing him,” the release alleges. “Mrs. Gordon was ordered to remain in her home and watch Mr. Coon, her husband, die before her.”
Egolf said he also received police body camera footage of the incident on Monday, but declined to comment further on the matter.
Statements from Santa Fe police after the incident said Coon “was reportedly violent and armed with a box cutter” and that Coon “threatened to kill the victim inside the residence.” The call was coded by the dispatchers as ‘psychiatric/abnormal behavior’.
After police shot Coon, the video shows officers searching his body for gunshot wounds. Coon’s wife can be seen opening the front door and asking the officers, “What just happened?” An officer tells her to go back inside and wait there.
Some time later, Coon’s wife is seen crying during an interview with another officer outside their garage.
When Gallegos was questioned by a commander after the shooting, he said Coon was armed with “a box cutter and a pistol.” Ovalle tells Commander Coon “had a knife in his hand, and I discovered afterwards that he also had a gun.”
The New Mexican requested information about the state police investigation on Oct. 22 but did not receive a formal response.
State police spokesman Officer Wilson Silver declined to respond to questions about the investigation Tuesday, but wrote in an email that the agency plans to forward the case to the state’s attorney’s office next week.
“Once you receive the report, any further questions you may have should be answered,” he wrote.
Santa Fe Police Deputy Chief Ben Valdez referred questions about the incident to state police and wrote that an internal investigation would begin following the state agency’s investigation “to determine compliance with the department’s policies and procedures set.”
