Three Bernalillo County sheriff's deputies are on paid leave while detectives investigate the fatal shooting of a domestic violence defendant in state District Court in Downtown.

John Hevener, 41, was shot to death by at least one of the deputies Wednesday afternoon on the second floor of the courthouse. He died en route to University of New Mexico Hospital while deputies locked down the entire courthouse to separate witnesses from other bystanders.

Lt. Gregg Marcantel said interviews with more than 50 witnesses are telling a story of a man armed with some sort of knife. Other details emerging from the interviews, of which about 12 remained to be done this morning, are being kept from the public until detectives can determine exactly what happened.

Marcantel said Hevener was due in the courthouse at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday for a hearing about an emergency protection order filed by his female partner. It isn't clear if this woman is his wife, but court records indicate the protection order did not include any children.

Court records also show that both Hevener and the woman seeking the protection order have a history of domestic violence charges. The woman also has a history of DWI and disorderly conduct, while Hevener has in the past been charged with littering, failing to follow court orders and aggravated battery.

Hevener failed to appear for the hearing Wednesday, prompting a bench warrant for his arrest. Marcantel said Hevener eventually appeared at the courthouse and was in and out at least four times during the day.

In the minutes before he was shot, he was in the second floor domestic violence hearing area with at least three court-assigned deputies. If he had a knife at this point, he somehow got it through a security checkpoint, which consists of a team of deputies with metal-detecting wands, walk-through metal detectors and an x-ray machine.

Marcantel said it is an "extraordinarily high priority" in the investigation to determine how Hevener made it through this checkpoint with a weapon.

"It's important to us because we have an obligation for public safety for that courthouse," Marcantel said. "We want to evaluate that and understand that."

The seven to nine deputies normally assigned to District Court are allowed to carry their duty firearms. Across the street at Metro Court, the assigned deputies are not allowed to carry their weapons, and the courthouse security checkpoints are run by a private company.

Marcantel said the three deputies, Sgt. Tim Lopez and deputies Carl Offner and Jeff House, are on paid leave as a routine response to a deputy-involved shooting and not as punishment of any sort. They will remain on leave until the investigation is finished.

Hevener and the woman involved in the temporary restraining order lived in a low-rent apartment just north of Central Avenue on General Stillwell Street. Their apartment is now closed, condemned as substandard.

Neighbor Mark Woods said the couple lived in the apartment for about 10 months, but moved out about two weeks ago after Hevener flung his body through an apartment window and police had to forcibly remove him to the hospital. "They were unfriendly and we called the cops on her for yelling at the kids," Woods said.