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Two men were shot dead in separate incidents, and a third person was found lifeless in an alleyway in less than 12 hours in Albuquerque.
By Thursday afternoon, all three were being investigated as homicides and no arrests had been reported.
“It’s almost to the day last year that we started to see an increase,” Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said in an early morning briefing outside one scene, referring to the point when homicides ramped up last year.
There were 14 homicides in January 2021 – the most of any month – and the annual record was shattered by year’s end, with 117 homicides.
The violence began Wednesday around 7 p.m. in the Southwest area of the city.
Albuquerque Police Department spokesman Daren DeAguero said officers were called to the 7800 block of Rainwater SW, near Unser and Arenal, when a 911 caller reported her father had been shot.
“Unfortunately, the male received an unsurvivable gunshot wound and was taken by death at the hospital,” DeAguero said. “The offender fled the residence before officers arrived.”
Then, just before midnight, police received an alert from a gunshot detection device near an East Central motel.
Gilbert Gallegos, another APD spokesman, said officers were dispatched to the Albuquerque Inn near Central and Pennsylvania. He said a man was found at the motel.
The third incident occurred some time before 4 a.m., when a body was reported in an alley in Northeast Albuquerque.
Gallegos said officers responded to the alley behind businesses in the 1400 block of San Pedro NE, near Mountain. He said rescue personnel also arrived at the location and confirmed the individual was deceased.
“Detectives were called out because the death appeared to be a homicide,” said Gallegos, who did not elaborate on what injuries the victim sustained or why police suspect foul play. Police also didn’t say whether that victim was a man or a woman.
Journal city editor Martin Salazar contributed to this report.
