A murder suspect police described as armed and dangerous gave officers the slip after fleeing into a Downtown-area post office and waving a gun around Friday afternoon, according to authorities.
The suspect, whom the U.S. Marshals Service identified as George Bond, 25, is now on the run, police believe.
According to the Valencia County News Bulletin, Bond was charged with murder in September after Los Lunas police tied him to a summer 2014 murder.
Officers believe he shot and killed a man named Charlie Davlin, who was found dead in his car.
The charges were dismissed two months later, but the case was reopened on Jan. 29.
Authorities issued an arrest warrant a few days later.
The search for Bond led the marshals to the city’s main post office, near Broadway and Mountain, around 3 p.m. Friday. They called Albuquerque police to help catch him, said Simon Drobik, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department.
“Officers were dispatched down here to the post office to assist federal agents who were trying to apprehend an armed, dangerous fugitive,” Drobik said. “That individual ran inside the post office. They observed him run in, and he was armed with some type of a firearm.”
The post office was put on lockdown, and employees and customers sheltered in place, he said.
Bond left the building and officers created a perimeter around the area to try to catch him, Drobik said. Federal agents searched the post office again.
Bond was still on the run Friday night.
“We don’t believe he is in the area anymore,” Drobik said. “At this point the federal agents will pursue this individual and try to apprehend him if they get another lead on him.”
Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden and officers with the U.S. Postal Inspector’s Office were also at the scene.
Barbara Wood, the customer relations coordinator for the post office, said a fire alarm went off and about 150 employees had to evacuate. Police later told the postal workers that they were searching for an armed suspect.
Digital editor Robert Browman contributed to this report.
