ALBUQUERQUE, NM – An Albuquerque police officer is recovering after another APD officer accidentally shot him.

It happened while they were dealing with a domestic disturbance call on the southeast side of the city last month.

It all started with a 911 call from a home near Central and Elizabeth in southeast Albuquerque. APD officers Jeff Schwarzel, Reanna Torres and Vanessa Zuniga responded to a call for help in mid-October. There they met 41-year-old Matthew Sanchez.

Police say Sanchez got out of the trailer with a gun and pointed it at the officers. Then all three fired at him. Sanchez was killed, but Schwarzel was also caught in the crossfire.

Department leaders walked us through that video on Tuesday. They say when Torres fired his gun, she wasn’t looking at Sanchez.

Schwarzel was shot through the right bicep and in the hand. He recovers.

APD Chief Harold Medina says officers are trained to make sure they have a clear target, but it’s not always a perfect scenario.

“If you look at that video, it looks like at one point it looks like there’s an elbow out and that’s almost in the area where the officer was hit. So it could have been that simple because they didn’t see an elbow out, but they saw the rest of the body,” Medina said.

Medina also mentioned that he believes in second chances. If the incident is deemed a mistake and not misconduct, he would welcome the officer back to the force.

“I hope everyone at the Albuquerque Police Department remembers that we should always help people better themselves and remember that everyone is human at some point,” Medina said.

Police say Sanchez never fired his gun and it was not loaded at the time. However, they say he fired several rounds into the air down the block before police arrived.

Officers Torres and Zuniga have not yet returned to duty as the investigation continues.