Multiple guns stolen from ABQ home

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A New Mexico man says about nine weapons, including an assault rifle, are now in the hands of criminals after a house burglary in northeast Albuquerque Friday.

Joshua Vigil says it was just before 3 p.m. Friday when he went to his grandparents house on Edith Boulevard NE just west of I-25 and Candelaria to pick up a safe full of guns he kept there.

But he and his family were shocked when they walked in to see the place trashed.

“We walked into the house and noticed the back door was kicked in. My safe was gone with all my firearms and body armor,” Vigil says.

His safe was in the dining room, with an AR-15, two shotguns, a hunting rifle, a pistol and a Russian military rifle inside.

“It is a pretty big safe,” he says. “It probably takes about three people to lift it. When I put it there, it took me and my brother and my dad to lift it."

On top of that, Vigil says the burglars took cash, jewelry and his grandfather's safe from the closet that, he says, had three pistols in it.

Together, he estimates about $10,000 to $12,000 worth of weapons were stolen.

Vigil reported it to Albuquerque Police.

“I ran outside pacing around, mad,” Vigil says. “I called the cops."

He is still in the process of getting all the serial numbers so police can track down the missing guns.

In the meantime, Vigil says it is concerning to think of all those weapons ending up in the wrong hands.

“Especially considering how ARs are scarce right now and there is one in that safe, if they get in that safe, they could sell that AR and it could be in the hands of a criminal,” he says. “That is not the kind of weapon you want in the hands of a criminal."