As Seen in Journal
Mayor Richard J. Berry, Councilor Ken Sanchez and the Safe City Strike Force were on hand today for the demolition of a house that plagued the community with criminal activity, according to a city news release.
Gang members used the house at 119 Estancia NW for criminal acts of violence, the news release reads. The house also was attracting vandals and transients.
In Spring 2009, members of a gang were living at the house and severely beat a man with a baseball bat. Gang members also had their dogs attack him, according to the news release.
After the beating, the victim was dragged down a stairwell and threatened that if he yelled for help he would be killed. The gang members bound him with rope, stuffed him in the trunk of a vehicle, drove to the West Mesa, and lit the vehicle on fire, the news release states.
The victim was able to escape and call police at a nearby home.
“Demolishing this house is a major step towards making Albuquerque a hard place to be a criminal,” Berry says in the news release. “Eliminating houses that are a refuge for gangs and violence is an integral part of making our city safer.”
This past summer City Councilor Ken Sanchez requested a resolution to condemn the property. City Councilors unanimously approved the demolition of the house, according to the news release.
The property has racked up about $12,600 in debts with the city. A lien, for that amount, has been put on the property, the news release reads.
Photo courtesy of the City of Albuquerque
-- Email the reporter at rmartinez@abqjournal.com. Call the reporter at 505-975-3645