New Mexico city balks at Billy the Kid killer street name

FILE - This June 9, 2015 file photo shows a portrait of Sheriff Pat Garrett with his wife at the Bryan Museum in Galveston, Texas. This June 9, 2015 file photo shows a portrait of Sheriff Pat Garrett with his wife at the Bryan Museum in Galveston, Texas. Officials in Las Cruces, N.M. are balking at the idea of renaming a street after the 19th century Old West sheriff who shot and killed the outlaw Billy the Kid. (Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle via AP, File) (Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – A New Mexico city is balking at the idea of renaming a street after the 19th century Old West sheriff who shot and killed the outlaw Billy the Kid.

The Las Cruces Sun-News reports Las Cruces city councilors appeared reluctant Monday to endorse the plan to rename the street for Sheriff Pat Garrett.

Councilors expressed concern about the cost and Garrett's reputation as a sheriff who often took the law into his own hands.

Their reluctance angered a group that worked for two years to promote the name change.

The Dona Ana County Commission had endorsed the name change, but it requires city approval because the street is within city limits.

Garrett gunned down Billy the Kid in 1881 while the outlaw visited his girlfriend in Fort Sumner, New Mexico.