Video: Police Shoot Armed Suspect Accusing of Killing Aunt, Cousin

Warning: Footage is graphic. Viewer discretion is advised.

Video footage released by a sheriff’s office in Colorado shows the moment police shoot a knife-wielding suspect who allegedly killed a mother and daughter.

The man was suspected in stabbing murders of a mother and her daughter in New Mexico, according to reports.

Morgan County Sheriff Jim Crone said the man allegedly disobeyed orders not to move as he got out of his vehicle holding a knife while raising his hands above his head, the Denver Post reported.

Crone said he released the footage, showing homicide suspect Dustin Brian Montano gunned down at a Walmart parking lot in Walmart. The incident took place on May 24. Police released the clip on Oct. 2.

Police said they thought the knife in Montano’s hand was gun.

“Prior to May 24th, Undersheriff Martin and myself, in our 50 years of combined law enforcement experience, have been involved in many armed confrontations over the years, and only one of those resulted in deadly force being used (I shot a man who stabbed me in 1987),” Crone wrote, according to the Post.

He said, “However, when confronting a man who was a suspect in a homicide, was presumably armed and dangerous, and in a conscious effort to disregard commands and come out of the car aggressively with a knife (which we initially saw as a handgun), the suspect left us with little choice.”

Morgan County District Attorney Brittny Lewton said that the shooting was justified.

Video footage released by a sheriff’s office in Colorado shows the moment police shoot a knife-wielding suspect. Morgan County Sheriff’s Office

Authorities said in May that  Crone and Undersheriff Dave Martin confronted Montano and opened fire after he made a “threatening gesture,” The Associated Press reported.

Officials got information about a stolen red Volkswagen Jetta driven by Montano at the Walmart, 9 News reported. That led to the police confrontation.

Accused of Killing Aunt, Cousin

The 9 News report said that Montano had used the knife that was in his hands to kill 53-year-old Deborah Martinez and her 17-year-old daughter, Irisa Montano. KOB-TV reported that they were found stabbed to death in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“They were really close to each other. Her mom would do anything for her and she would do anything for her mom,” Emmy Garcia said of Irisa Montano and her mother, saying she was shocked by their deaths. “They just had a really close relationship.”

Dustin Montano is Deborah’s nephew and Irisa’s cousin, said Garcia, adding that he was staying with them for two months.

“Like why? Why would you do that?” Cordova said of the killings. “Because they took him in as like their family and cared for him and fed him,” Garcia noted. “And he really like didn’t have any income so they supported him and helped him with anything.”