ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – From Albuquerque to Bernalillo, Cuba to San Juan County. A procession of officers escorted Bloomfield Police Officer Timothy Ontiveros on his final trip home. 

Ontiveros died Sunday after being shot during a traffic stop on May 26. Another officer killed the driver. 

A procession left the Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque around 10 Tuesday morning. They traveled along I-25 to Highway 550 for the trip north to San Juan County. 

All along the route, people paid their respects to an officer who lost his life in the line of duty. 

“It’s just sad. We always support the police officers, firefighters, because they do a lot for the community. They protect us,” said Jeannie Poncho, a San Juan County resident. 

New Mexicans waved American flags along the route. 

“Just to show respect to a hero that protects our community, and that we all love all our towns, Farmington, Bloomfield, Aztec. He served all of those towns,” said Audrey Gordon, another San Juan County resident. 

In Bloomfield, Ontiveros received a hero’s welcome with hundreds of people along the processional route. 

“You could tell people loved Tim by the looks of the crowd out here,” said Felipa Valencia, Ontiveros’ relative. “We love him, and we’re going to miss him.”

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexicans are mourning for an officer lost in the line of duty. Bloomfield police say a man shot Officer Timothy Ontiveros multiple times during a traffic stop on Memorial Day.

After a weeklong fight, Ontiveros lost that battle Sunday. Ontiveros had been with the Bloomfield Police Department for six months.

In that short time, BPD Chief Phillip Francisco says he knew Ontiveros as a kind, funny, and respectable person, both inside and outside of work.

“It’s a tragic loss. We’re all trying to grieve and get through this together, not only in the community and his family but our family here in law enforcement. They’re like brother to us, sometimes even closer to family, because they work, they take care of each other, they protect each other on the street, they eat with each other. So they’re very close, almost like a family. So the loss that they are feeling, as far as officers here, is going to take an immense time to heal,” said Francisco.

Outside Bloomfield Police Department, the flag flew at half-staff, and people left flowers on a police unit that the chief says Ontiveros loved because he was a car guy.

The mayor of Bloomfield says it is those memories that will make sure Ontiveros is never forgotten.

“This doesn’t happen in our small town and so it is definitely something we will not forget, and we don’t want people to forget. We want them to remember that Officer Ontiveros he served our community, he served it well,” said Mayor Cynthia Atencio.

On Sunday night, law enforcement from across the state escorted Ontiveros body from the hospital to the Office of Medical Investigator, where doctors will conduct an autopsy.

We’re expecting police from Bloomfield and beyond to take Ontiveros’ body back to the Four Corners Tuesday at 10 a.m. They’ll head up I-25 to 550 through Bernalillo and on to Bloomfield.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — How much do you know about history? If you think you know a lot, there’s a group of New Mexico students who have proven they can challenge you.

A group of four sophomores at Albuquerque School of Excellence recently won a state title in the National History Day competition. The competition involves historical research and making a documentary on a topic. Their topic is a secret biological and chemical warfare research unit that was secretly operating in Japan during World War II.

“I feel like that’s really important to us, not just having a competitive topic, but also having a topic that’s really serious and that we can bring light to to other people that aren’t commonly educated on it,” said Smriti Monger, a team member.

Their documentary, “The Hidden Atrocities of Unit 731: Denial, Duty, and the Right to Justice“, bested 11 other documentaries to place first in the Senior Documentary competition at New Mexico National History Day. Their hard work earned them the state title and a trip to nationals.

“It wasn’t easy making the documentary. Everyday for three months, all four of us spent 5-10 hours daily researching Unit 731, sourcing videos and photos, writing the film script, recording the narration and editing the film. To better understand the complexities of Unit 731, we combed through thousands of pages of archived journals, books, and other primary source materials; attempted to translate material that wasn’t in English; and even submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the U.S. government for previously undisclosed information,” said Nicole Briceno Gabauer, a team member.

Monger, Gabauer, Tam Pham and Masara Algburi will fly out Sunday to the University of Maryland. They will go up against around 100 other documentaries in the national contest.