Members of the Santa Fe Fire Department are mourning the loss of one of their own after police say the firefighter was killed in a domestic dispute at a northeast Albuquerque apartment early this week.
Albuquerque police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said officers responding to a domestic dispute on Monday morning found the body of 25-year-old Christian Reid outside the Chateau apartments, near Osuna and San Mateo NE.
Detectives are now investigating Reid's death as a homicide, although Gallegos would not say how Reid died, what led to his death or if anyone was in custody.
“We are not yet able to release other details at this point in the investigation,” he said in an email.
On Thursday, blood was still visible leading to neighbor Kevin Gonzales’ door.
“He might have knocked, maybe,” Gonzales said. “Maybe he didn’t hear nobody answer, so he went on his way to the next one.”
Gonzales said nobody knows what happened, but neighbors on the other side of the building told him Reid died on their porch.
Greg Gallegos, Santa Fe Fire Department wildland superintendent, said Reid's death was a “real shock” for the department.
“It hit everyone pretty hard,” Gallegos said Thursday. “He’s going to be missed. It’s unfortunate that such a young life was taken.”
Reid, a father of two, had seen a lot of action during his brief nine months with the department.
A lead sawyer with SFFD’s Atalaya Wildland Fire Hand Crew, Reid fought several forest fires, including in Oregon, California and here at home when the Ute Park Fire torched 36,000 acres near Eagles Nest last spring.
“He was real passionate about his job,” Gallegos said. “He loved being in the outdoors.”
Gallegos said Reid also showed a desire to “expand his knowledge and experience,” and was involved with helping educate and train youths to fight fires on the Jemez Pueblo, where he is originally from.
He said the department is planning to hold a memorial for Reid.
“Chief (Paul) Babcock and the entire department send our condolences out to his family, friends and hand crew members,” the Santa Fe Fire Department posted on its Facebook page Wednesday.
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