First officers describe Emcore shooting

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The first four Albuquerque police officers to get to the Emcore plant shooting Monday found a scene of mayhem with victims begging for help and the gunman apparently still on the loose.

One person with a gunshot wound asked officers about her kids and who would pick them up, officers said at a news conference Thursday.

"I can't imagine being in a situation like that knowing who's going to be there for my daughter if I don't make it," said Officer Wayne McCumber. "She said, 'Don't leave.'

"I said, 'I'm not going to leave, I'm right here."

Recalling the events of Monday morning brought McCumber to tears.

The call came in as a shooting with one woman down.

But Officer Eric Martinez, who was the first officer to arrive at Emcore, said he saw something completely different.

"There was people on the ground," he said. "There was people screaming, 'He's inside.'"

He said he saw three women.

One of them told him the shooter was inside the building. He said it seemed like a long time before the other officers arrived.

"There was blood everywhere, blood all over the car, all over us," McCumber said.

As the officers including Officer Art Acosta helped the survivors to their patrol cars they looked out for a shooter. They said they had no idea just how many gunmen there were.

Officer David Hinson said as soon as they'd taken care of the victims he went into Emcore and saw the .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun Robert Reza used in the shooting. But had no idea the single gunman had just taken his life.

"But at that point there was a large desk that was covering the offender, and at that point we didn't know that was somebody deceased," said Hinson.

The four officers had found Sharon Cunningham and Michele "Scrappy" Turner. They didn't survive as Turner died at the scene and Cunningham succumbed later at University of New Mexico Hospital.

They saved Adrienne Basciano who police believe was Reza's targets. She has been identified as his estranged girlfriend and the mother of their twin sons.

A UNMH spokesperson late Thursday said Basciano, who had been upgraded to serious condition, has slipped back into critical condition.

For three of the officers, the Emcore shooting was their first call-out of the day. All four went back to work the next day.

The officers had no idea Reza had killed himself until more than an hour later.

"I just hope those families can heal," Martinez said.