Father wants cop-shooting photos published

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The father of a man shot and killed by an Albuquerque Police Department officer is proposing something that's sure to be controversial.

Ken Ellis is neck deep wading through what he calls a never ending stream of problems at APD. His fight now defines him.

"I have to own this," Ellis said. "They shot and killed my son, and I live this every single day. "Now I am the father of the Iraqi War veteran that was killed by APD."

Police shot and killed Kenneth Ellis Jr. two years ago as he stood in front of a 7-Eleven store while holding a gun to his own head. Now his father has joined a group of families whose sons have been killed by APD in recent years.

And he wants to make sure their faces are burned into the memories of Albuquerque residents.

To do that he wants to put the pictures and names of men shot by APD on a paid pullout advertisement in the Albuquerque Journal like the kind published by the city of Albuquerque to showcase convicted drunken drivers and wanted property-crime suspects.

He also wants to put pictures of the cops who pulled the trigger.

"If I put a face to these numbers it will hit people a little more closer to home," Ellis said. "It's not just numbers we are dealing with, it's peoples' lives."

Ellis said he hopes to grab people's attention so he can engage them about the other problems in the department.

"It's not just the killings," Ellis continued. "It's the beatings; it's the abuse of the public."

Ellis, who says he supports the men and women in blue on the streets, believes the brass has gone too far.

While conceding many of the men shot in recent years put themselves in the line of fire, he said that doesn't mean police officers had to fire on them.

"Just because they are having a hard time in their lives and they are not role-model citizens, that doesn't make it OK for them to kill them," Ellis said. "They need help."

APD declined to comment on Ellis' idea, and KRQE News 13 was unable to contact officials of the Albuquerque Police Officers Association Friday evening.

The Albuquerque Journal, which publishes the city's property crime and DWI inserts as paid advertising, said it would have to see Ellis' ad before deciding whether to run it.