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An alleged robber was armed with a BB gun when he was shot to death by a sandwich shop employee early Tuesday morning in Southeast Albuquerque, police said.
Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman, said Wednesday that detectives interviewed the Subway employee and he is not being charged “at this point.”
“This is being investigated as a likely justifiable homicide,” he said. The alleged robber has not been publicly identified.
Officers responded around 5:20 a.m. Tuesday to the shooting at a Subway in the 1300 block of Gibson SE, near Interstate 25. Police found a man shot to death inside the shop and discovered an employee was the shooter.
Police said the man had tried to rob the store when the employee opened fire. Gallegos said the robber’s gun turned out to be an air pistol.
It was the second time an alleged robber was fatally shot by a employee in just over a week. On Sept. 6, the employee of a Tobacco Town in the North Valley shot an alleged robber as he fled the store.
The alleged robber, 32-year-old Leandro Trujillo, was found on the sidewalk half a block away and died at the scene. Gallegos said that case is also being looked at as a justified homicide.
