Decades of violent crime preceded death

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - It all ended for Samuel Marquez on the front porch of his mother's home near Coors Boulevard and Arenal Road Thursday afternoon.

Bernalillo County Sheriff Dan Houston says the 44-year old convicted felon was holding his mother and his disabled brother hostage in the home after an argument over money. Another family member called 911.

Investigators say deputies were setting up for a SWAT response when Marquez came out of the front door using his mother as a human shield and holding a knife to her throat. Deputies ordered Marquez to drop the weapon but he refused and said he was going to kill her.

When Marquez started dragging his mother back inside, two deputies opened fire from about 5 to 6 feet away, hitting and killing Marquez while saving his mother.

The sheriff's department is not releasing any information on how many shots were fired or where Marquez was shot.

"The dynamics of what he did himself created a situation where the officers engaged him and, at that point, did not allow for us to engage less lethal force or negotiation," Houston said at a news conference Friday morning.

Marquez has a long and violent criminal history.

In 1989, he was convicted of murdering his neighbor and sentenced to nine years in prison. More information on that case was not immediately available Friday.

After a string of robbery and shoplifting charges following his murder sentence, Marquez was back behind bars and apparently stabbed three jail guards with a shank in 1998.

According to the Department of Corrections, Marquez was released from prison in 2006. But the criminal behavior continued in 2009.

In May of that year he was charged with aggravated assault for punching his roommate in the face.

Marquez was charged with false imprisonment in 2010 after he threw a set of keys at his mother and kept her from leaving her home.

"[Marquez's mother] stated that Samuel [Marquez] advised her that his friend from prison known as Diablo had killed his mom and that she was just like his mom," wrote a Bernalillo County deputy in a criminal complaint filed against Marquez.

Later that year, Marquez was charged with aggravated battery for aggressively putting his hand around his sister's neck during a verbal altercation.

Last Tuesday, Albuquerque police were called to a health clinic after Marquez threatened staff and said he was going to commit suicide. According to an incident report, Marquez was transported to UNM Hospital for an emergency psychiatric evaluation.

Houston said that Marquez has mental issues and that Marquez's mother had a restraining order against her son.

Both deputies involved in Thursday's shooting are on standard paid leave while the shooting investigation continues. This is the department's third deputy-involved shooting of the year.