Review found APD shooting not justified

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A citizens' panel has rejected an independent review officer's findings in the case of an Iraq war veteran shot to death by an Albuquerque police officer last year.

The review officer, former judge William Deaton, said 25-year-old Kenneth Ellis III should not have been shot because he was not a threat to people around him.

The Albuquerque Journal reported in a copyright story Tuesday the Police Oversight Commission turned down Deaton's findings.

It agreed instead with the Albuquerque Police Department.

The department says Detective Bret Lampiris-Tremba was justified in shooting Ellis in January 2010 after a brief standoff outside a convenience store.

A Bernalillo County grand jury and a police internal affairs investigation both cleared the detective.

Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz declined to comment on Deaton's findings.