ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Albuquerque Police are investigating a shooting that left two people wounded after a weekend house party that UNM says several student-athletes were taking part in.
The shooting happened early Sunday morning after 2 a.m. at a home on Chama Street in the Uptown area near Louisiana and Lomas.
Several neighbors told KRQE News 13 Monday their normally quiet residential neighborhood that’s far from the university was full of college-aged students who eventually scattered when gunshots were heard.
“We knew there had been something wrong,” said Eddie Melendez, a neighbor who says the police response to the shooting. “Somebody we understood, had been shot.”
On Monday, dried blood could be seen strewn along the sidewalks leading up to the home where neighbors say the shooting happened. Neighbors say the shooting was preceded by a large party of around 100 people at a home that’s listed on a website for short-term rentals.
“We’re elders, we’ve been here since (19)66, so nothing like this has ever happened, Melendez said.
APD says two people were injured in the shooting, including a woman who was shot in the leg, and another person was shot in the ankle. As of Monday, police had not made any arrests in the case or named any suspects.
In a statement, UNM Athletic Director Eddie Nunez acknowledged Monday that multiple student-athletes were at the house-party-shooting Sunday morning.
“We consider this matter very serious,” Nunez wrote, in part. “As a department, we are thankful that everyone is safe and that the situation as we understand it didn’t escalate.”
KRQE News 13 has learned at least one player on the UNM men’s basketball team was part of the group at the party Sunday.
Before practice Monday, KRQE News 13 asked Lobos Men’s Basketball Coach Paul Weir about what happened.
“I think there’s a lot of different layers to it, hopefully once I get more documentation, I’ll be able to process what he told me and where that fits,” Weir said.
Weir says so far, no one on his team has been affected by Sunday’s incident.
“I literally have not had a single piece of documentation on anything. I’ve heard a lot of things and spoken to people about stuff, but I think until I get physical documentation or just more credible information, it’s hard for me to speculate on what might happen,” Weir said.
Albuquerque Police haven’t released the names of anyone involved in Sunday’s incident, or any information about the people who were shot. Both victims are expected to recover from their injuries, which police called “non-life threatening.”
UNM says it’s still learning more information about what happened and hasn’t yet said how many student-athletes were involved, or if any athletes are among those who were injured in the shooting.
