ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – It was a morning of panic for neighbors who say they heard shot after shot. Sky News 13 also caught what was happening in the surrounding streets after the shootout as police fanned out on the streets looking for a suspect on the loose.
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The hours-long search impacted schools and businesses in the area. There is also video of the SWAT team just down the street.
Footage from Sky News 13 just before 11 a.m. shows a long stretch of Juan Tabo was blocked off and lined with law enforcement vehicles from agencies around the metro area. Valencia and Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Offices, State Police, Rio Rancho Police, and the FBI were at the scene. This was shortly after it was reported that four officers had been injured, three of them shot by a robbery suspect near Juan Tabo and Mountain.
Albuquerque Public Schools said six nearby schools were put in a shelter-in-place for hours because of the police activity. Around 11:10 a.m. Sky News 13 video shows the SWAT team going inside and around a home near the Mountain and Juan Tabo.
KRQE News 13 is waiting to hear back from APD for more information about what came out of this search. A woman whose aunt lives within sight of the Dutch Bros says she came rushing outside when she heard the gunshots Thursday morning. “All I could see was people trying to get out of that parking lot as fast as they could, but there’s only one way out. And, I just continuously heard the pop, pop, pop,” Becki Dougherty said.
She says drivers were in line to get their coffee and scrambled to get out of there. She added that she was scared that there was still one suspect on the run for hours.
One woman said her husband was in their backyard when gunshots rang out when she used outside to check on him, she found him helping an officer who was hit. “I saw him, arm in arm next to a cop and I thought for a second he might have got shot but it was the cop who got shot and he was carrying him here in the back alley and brought him to safety and the cop went in the ambulance,” said Andrea Sanchez.
Residents say they’ve always considered the area of the shooting a safe spot but now, they’re rattled. “I just really hope that… I mean… my heart goes out to everybody that was involved with this today. There was a lady who happened to grab her small child back and my son is about the same age as her son and that just struck me and sunk with me,” said another witness Danielle DeRosa.
Some neighbors say they’re still trying to heal from last Friday’s shooting at Washington Middle School that killed a 13-year-old. They say the recent shooting has brought out a mix of emotions.
Police are still processing the scene, APD’s mobile crime lab, and a long line of police cruisers have been parked down Juan Tabo for hours. City officials at a news conference Thursday afternoon said that while this case is ongoing, NMSP will continue to help assist with calls in the metro over the next few days.