Man dead, others hospitalized after shooting at Walmart in Northwest Albuquerque

Two people were arrested after a man was fatally shot during an apparent road rage incident inside a Walmart parking lot in Northwest Albuquerque on Wednesday.

The names of the victim and suspects were not released.

Around 6:30 p.m., the Albuquerque Police Department responded to a call of a shooting inside the Walmart parking lot in the 2500 block of Coors NW, just north of Interstate 40.

After a white pickup with a trailer and a Dodge Charger pulled into the parking lot, people got out and started arguing, APD spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said during a news conference Wednesday night. After two more vehicles arrived, an unknown number of people got into a fight, he said. At least four guns were taken out, then shots were fired, Gallegos said.

Isaac Bloomfield told the Journal he was walking out of Walmart with his wife and daughter when they heard "a whistle sound above our heads."

"I thought it was a firework until I heard a man screaming that, 'They are shooting. Take cover,'" he said. "We hid between two vehicles and I dialed 911. Shooting continued during this time and I heard about eight or more gunshots all at once."

At some point, Gallegos said, the driver of the black Charger got in his vehicle, turned around, then drove straight into three people, pinning them against the truck.

One of the men who was pinned, turned his gun and fired into the Charger, striking the male driver, Gallegos said. The driver got out, started running south toward Walmart, then collapsed before dying either on his way to the hospital or at the hospital, he said.

The people who were pinned were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Gallegos said.

"I don't know the ages of those, but all individuals involved were males," he said.

Police are trying to figure out who was shot besides the driver and why the two other vehicles came to the parking lot, Gallegos said.

"(The incident) definitely upset me considering the trauma it caused my daughter," Bloomfield said. "She didn't see the shooting victim, but she was terrified, having to hide and hear the gunshots and screaming."

The Walmart store closed after the incident and police are awaiting video surveillance from the store, Gallegos said.

Road rage incidents could always snowball and "explode into anything at any point," he said. Officers are constantly telling drivers to be careful, "not honking your horn, just drive safely," Gallegos said.