A New Mexico sheriff’s deputy shot and killed another deputy during a drunken argument after transporting a prisoner out of state.

Police said two Santa Fe County deputies were returning from the transfer when they rented a hotel room at 4 p.m. Monday in Las Cruces, reported the Albuquerque Journal.

The deputies later went to Dublin’s Street Pub, where they began arguing after drinking alcohol.

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Police said the argument escalated when the deputies returned to their seventh-floor hotel room, and one of them attempted to flee to an elevator.

Deputy Tai Chan fatally shot Deputy Jeremy Martin several times in the back and arms with a semi-automatic gun, police said.

The 29-year-old Martin was pronounced dead at an area hospital.

Police have questioned the 27-year-old Chan about the shooting after he was found in a stairwell near the roof of the hotel.

Martin was a two-year veteran, and the accused shooter a four-year veteran.

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The sheriff said he was not sure whether the two had ever worked together before.

Deputies are permitted to consume alcohol if they are not on duty, the sheriff said, but they must follow a code of conduct.

Chan has not yet been charged in the case.

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Watch this video report posted online by KOB-TV: