Ptlm. Robert Rosenbloom 1943-1971 |
Robert Rosenbloom was
born in Brooklyn, New York on April 23, 1943. He later relocated to
Portland, Oregon where he attended school. He joined the U. S. Army when
he was 17 years of age and served for two years. After he was discharged from
the military, he moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico and joined the New
Mexico State University Police Department and later moved to the
Las Cruces Police Department. Robert joined the New Mexico State Police
on November 6, 1965, and was assigned to work as a radio operator in the
Las Cruces office until he turned 23 years-old. On April 23, 1966, he
became a commissioned state police officer and remained in Las Cruces.
He transferred to Alamogordo after two years of service and in August 1969,
he transferred to Albuquerque.
Robert was waiting for orders to transfer back to Las Cruces, into the State Police Criminal Investigations Division. However, on the night of November 8, 1971, while patrolling on I-40, fifteen miles west |
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| of Albuquerque, he radioed the district office that he was
stopping a vehicle bearing California plates and containing three
Black
males. A witness later
stated that when they passed the patrol car, it was stopped behind the suspect vehicle
and they did not see the officer - only an unknown subject walking between the
two vehicles toward the police car.
A second witness stated that he observed what appeared to be a body being thrown toward the right side of the road. He saw three Black males getting into the front car and observed the headlamps pull away, leaving the patrol car with the red light still on. The second witness then crossed the median and went to the patrol car to check on the officer. He found Robert lying at the side of the road and at 10:57 p.m., the witness used the police radio and reported a badly injured patrolman. Robert died of a gunshot wound at the scene. When Sergeant Charlie Hawkins arrived on the scene he found the lights still on and the unit’s right front door open. Robert's body was lying face down with his service revolver next to him. He had been shot once through the upper chest and neck area with a .45 automatic weapon, cutting his carotid artery. Investigation revealed that Robert was standing next to the right front door of his unit when he was shot; the three suspects fled to Albuquerque. On November 9th, the rental car they were in was discovered abandoned in a vacant lot. As an extensive manhunt was underway, the three suspects made it to Albuquerque International Airport and on November 26th, they hijacked a TWA 727 to Cuba. The three suspects were identified as members of the Republic of Africa, a splinter group of the Black Panthers. It has been reported that one of the suspects died in Cuba; there are still outstanding warrants for all of the suspects. Robert was buried in Las Cruces and was survived by his wife, one daughter, and one son. |
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