ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Three homicides in Albuquerque in just one night. One was in a Nob Hill neighborhood where a man was found in the street shot to death. However, the Albuquerque Police Department will hardly say anything about that shooting. While neighbors said they are concerned about whether the person or persons responsible is still at large, APD will not say if they have anyone in custody or any suspects.
Some neighbors in Nob Hill said they are scared after a man was found lying in the street with two gunshot wounds around 6:30 Sunday night. Neighbors said a homeowner on Vassar Drive was on vacation, and a house sitter showed up. At least one person confronted the house sitter in the driveway, in what might have been an attempted carjacking.
Neighbors say they heard gunshots and saw a man flee the scene. Online records show that the owner of the home is a former prosecutor from Los Lunas. However, APD will not confirm. “It is difficult for us to release exact details or confirm information early on in an investigation,” Chief Harold Medina with APD said during a town hall Monday.
KRQE News 13 asked APD repeatedly Monday for more information on the incident in what neighbors said is a nice neighborhood. APD was asked to confirm the neighbors’ story, if the victim has been identified and if the person or persons responsible is still at large. APD said they do not discuss details that are under investigation. “Even today, we had a homicide where issues or concerns are circulating through the neighborhoods involved,” Medina said. “We just sometimes need to protect the integrity of that investigation.”
APD even did an hour-long Facebook Live town hall Monday night addressing crime trends in the city and asked people to submit questions to be answered. While APD had time to answer questions about things like package theft and how the community can engage more with police, APD did not have time to answer any of the questions KRQE News 13 submitted about the Vassar homicide and the fact that Albuquerque is trending toward its most murders on record this year.
“If it is something that is a public safety concern, we will immediately release what we can to make sure the public is safe,” Medina said.
The other two homicides in the city Sunday night were at a home in northeast Albuquerque and the Motel 6 in northwest Albuquerque. If these three recent homicides are murders, that will bring us to 61 murders for 2021, and the city isn’t even halfway through the year. The record high was 80 murders for 2019.
During the town hall, the northeast, northwest and foothills area commands all reported an uptick in homicides.
