APD: 14-year-old perpetrator killed, victim wounded in 'botched robbery attempt'

Multiple people were shot in an attempted robbery that exploded in gunfire early Wednesday morning, including a 14-year-old boy who was killed by one of the victims who returned fire, according to Albuquerque police.

Police said Alonzo Sanderson was shot and killed by the husband of a couple who was being robbed at an apartment complex in the 500 block of Tramway NE, near Copper, just after midnight Tuesday.

Jeriah Salas, 15, was with Sanderson and fired shots into the vehicle that struck the victim, police said. He is facing charges including attempt to commit an armed robbery with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery and assault with a deadly weapon.

“Detectives are investigating the death as a justifiable homicide since the husband of the victim was defending his wife and himself during an armed robbery,” Albuquerque Police Department spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said in a news release late Wednesday night.

The wife, a woman in her 30s, was treated for two gunshot wounds and released from the hospital Wednesday.

APD also said that five teens have been arrested, including Salas, and two others are being sought in connection with the case.

Sanderson and Salas were among a group of teens in a car who approached the victims, who were in a Jeep at the apartment complex, according to Gallegos.

“The victims told detectives that the teen later identified as Sanderson approached the passenger side window of the Jeep with two handguns. The second teen, later identified as Salas, opened the rear passenger door armed with a gun,” Gallegos said. “The victims heard a gunshot, and the male driver of the Jeep produced a handgun and fired several times at the teens.”

He said a girl who was part of the group got into the Jeep from the passenger side and began fighting with the driver, who reversed the Jeep, hit the car, drove off, and, after realizing his wife had been shot, went to a hospital.

Sanderson, meanwhile, was loaded into the car, and detectives were later told that one of the girls who was with them may have also been shot.

Gallegos said, in addition to Salas, detectives are charging six other teens who are accused of being involved and having knowledge of the robbery.