Chased man kills self as police close in

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The driver of a car witnesses say was being chased by police killed himself in the middle of a busy street Wednesday afternoon.

By evening San Mateo Boulevard remained closed north of Central Avenue as Albuquerque police continued to investigate.

A police spokesman gave this overview of what went down:

At around 3:15 p.m. reports of an armed man and some sort of a disturbance brought officers to the Premiere Motel on Central near Solano Drive SE.

Police on the ground and in a helicopter then went looking for a blue hatchback and found it near Girard Boulevard and Lead Avenue.

Officers chased the man to Central and San Mateo where they saw he was armed with a handgun.

After the chase turned north onto San Mateo one officer used his car to spin the hatchback onto the median.

Seconds later the man shot himself in the head, according to police.  The man, whose name has not been released, died at the scene.

"We don't have any other information in regards to why he was at the Premiere Motel; his purpose for being there, we do not know that," Officer Robert Gibbs said.  "And we of course don't know the vehicle he was driving, whether he owns the vehicle or not.

"We're still under investigation in regards to that."

It does not appear any officers fired shots or that anyone was shot at the motel.

It's not known how long the investigation will keep San Mateo closed between central and Copper Avenue NE.
dication of when the street will reopen.

News 13 has a crew at the scene and will update this report as more information becomes available.