ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The Albuquerque Police Department released details Friday from an officer-involved shooting from August 17. Now police say they are searching for two suspects who they believed harbored Abreu-Peña after officers say he shot at and ran away from them.
On August 17 around 4 a.m. officers made contact with 34-year-old Pablo Abreu-Peña at a property on Rhode Island St., while investigating a possible stolen car. Police say Abreu-Peña was spray painting the wheels on a vehicle that didn’t have a license plate. At an apartment complex near Zuni and Pennsylvania, a spot APD says is known as a drop off point for stolen cars. Officers stop to question him. “As they talked with the male for approximately nine minutes they suspected he was not giving his real name to officers and that the car could be stolen,” said APD Deputy Commander, Kyle Hartsock. The vehicle was later confirmed stolen.
After being questioned Abreu-Peña responds in Spanish saying he’s just drinking water, but moments later he takes off running through the apartment complex. APD says the suspect initially fled from officers and returned to the car where an officer saw him retrieve a gun from under the front tire of the car and fled again. Officer Howington opens fire grazing him on the legs. “Officer Howington observed the male coming around the corner and told us in a statement he saw him armed with a gun and that he saw a muzzle flash which is produced when the gun fires,” Hartsock said.
Abreu-Peña was able to escape from the scene and police found blood on fence they believe he jumped over, officers also recovered a gun in a field behind the fence. Surveillance video shows Abreu-Peña walking through the yard of a residence and blood was also found on the fence to that residence.
Two days later, with the help of New Mexico State Police, APD arrested Abreu-Peña less than a half a mile away at a nearby home where two people who are now suspects in the case, Tyler Rose Vargas and Valiente Nunez, were attending to Abreu-Peña’s wounds. Police say he is still in the hospital and will be booked once he is released. 30-year-old Tyler Rose Vargas and 53-year-old Valiente Nunez have warrants for their arrest. Police say they are not yet in custody.
