These people are still on the loose

Police on lookout for cop attackers

Police investigate Wednesday after an officer was stabbed near Bosque FarmsTwo suspects are on the run Wednesday after stabbing an off-duty Bosque Farms officer on his morning run.

The officer, 36-year-old John Valdez, was on his cooled walk after his jog at about 8 Wednesday morning. He says a car drove up behind him and a passenger attacked.

Police say an early 2000s model Chevy Impala pulled up behind the officer and the passenger leaned out the window and stuck a shank-like object with a screwdriver handle into the officer's back.

Valdez was left lying along the road, but he was alert enough to get a description and call it in, says Bosque Farms Police Chief Joe Stidham.

"He was heads up enough to get a great description, in my opinion, for having just been stabbed in the back with an object, not knowing what's going on. You're on the side of the road on a ditch bank by yourself. He got a great description that he was able to pass along to us," he said.

The chief says Valdez was also smart enough not to pull the weapon out of his back.

Stidham says he was on his way to the office when he got the call.

"I didn't know the severity of the injury, just that he'd been stabbed with some type of blunt object, so I was just trying to get back to the hospital as fast as I could," he said.

The suspects' Impala is painted in a black primer. It has tinted windows and temporary tags.

The suspects are described as Hispanic males with shaved heads. The suspected stabber has a "13" tattooed on the back of his head.

Police say different gangs use the number 13 and it is not clear which gang the suspect may belong to.

State police combed the area for witnesses. They also used a helicopter to search the area.

"We're going to work with probation and parole, we're going to work with the gang task force to see if we can identify who the passenger was, possibly link him to the driver and the vehicle," said Lt. Eric Garcia of the New Mexico State Police.

Police say Valdez wasn't wearing anything that would identify him as a cop, so it isn't clear if he was targeted or this was a random act of violence.

Valdez was taken to UNM Hospital with the weapon still in his back. He was listed in stable condition with non-life threatening injuries.