POSTED: 9:25 p.m. MST December 19, 2004
December 19, 2004 -- In a matter of minutes, three people were killed at a home east of Cloudcroft, New Mexico.
Riley Levy- Neighbor, "It's just a bad situation, it shouldn't have happened."
Two Otero County Sheriff's deputies responded to the home for a domestic dispute with reports of shots fired.
Lt. Jimmy Glascock- NM State Police, "They encountered a subject, Mr. Flippens and described him as exhibiting nervous behavior."
The deputies also noticed a 3-year old girl crying and blood on the floor. When they asked to go inside they're weren't allowed.
While one deputy went to call for back-up, the other, 53-year old Deputy Robert Hedman went around behind the house.
Investigators say that's when the suspect, 38 year old Earl Flippens shot Deputy Hedman point black and killed him.
Officials say the other deputy was by the cruiser calling for back-up when Flippens came through the front door and began firing at him. The deputy shot back and killed him.
Another neighbor who didn't want to be identified said, "That's sad, they say he was a fine young man and the one who had to shoot this fellow, it's hard on him too. We're not made to kill people."
When deputies made their way inside the house, they found Flippens pregnant live-in girlfriend, shot to death. Her 3 year old daughter was inside too, but she was unharmed.
Glascock, "Particularly with domestic violence these are dangerous calls you're dealing with incidents where emotions drive these incidents. Whether they're reported by a victim or a neighbor emotions are very heightened and they're extremely dangerous incidents for police officers to respond to."
New Mexico State Police Investigators are looking into whether or not there was a history of domestic disputes from the two individuals living at the home.
The woman inside the home was identified as 30- year old Deborah Rhoudes. Her 3-year old daughter is staying with relatives.
Neighbors say the family was new to the neighborhood. Deputy Robert Hedman worked at the Otero County Sheriff's Department for three years, but had been in law enforcement for several more.