Four dead in separate shootings and apartment fire across Albuquerque

It was a deadly overnight stretch across Albuquerque as three people were killed in separate shootings and another died when a vacant apartment caught fire.

Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque police spokesman, said two of the shootings, an attempted break-in and a brawl-turned-shooting outside a Walmart, are being investigated as possible justified homicides.

Lt. Jason Fejer, an Albuquerque Fire Rescue spokesperson, said crews responded Thursday around 1 a.m. to an apartment fire with three people trapped in the 8500 block of Marquette NE, near Copper and Wyoming. He said firefighters got a handle on the blaze within 15 minutes, and two people were taken to a hospital in critical condition. A third person was pronounced dead at the scene.

“A cause has not been determined at this time. This building is abandoned and not in normal use,” Fejer said. The two people who were taken to the hospital were intubated.

Fejer said the apartment had been boarded up, and the trio were not allowed to be inside. He did not provide the ages or genders of the dead and injured.

The spate of violence began several hours earlier, with a road rage incident outside the Walmart on Coors NW, north of Interstate 40.

Around 6:30 p.m., officers responded to the shooting and found Terrence Lowe, 40, fatally shot and a father and son injured after being struck by a car. Investigators learned a father and his sons, in separate vehicles, and Lowe pulled into the parking lot and started arguing.

Gallegos said a fight ensued before Terrence Lowe’s brother, Kendall Lowe, drove up and pointed a gun at the father and sons and fired it but missed. Terrence Lowe got into his car and drove into the father and one son, pinning them against their truck.

The other son ran to the car with a gun and shot several rounds into the car, striking Terrence Lowe, he said. Kendall Lowe then ran to the son and hit him with the handgun before the two started fighting.

Gallegos said officers were able to free the father and son from being pinned and they were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

“Based on the preliminary investigation, which included surveillance and phone videos of the incident, detectives are investigating the shooting as a possible justifiable homicide,” he said. “Detectives will continue to work with the District Attorney’s Office to determine whether charges will be filed for the homicide.”

Kendall Lowe is charged with three counts of aggravated battery and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

But the night was just beginning for homicide detectives.

Around 11 p.m. officers responded to gunfire in the 800 block of Barelas SW, east of the BioPark Zoo, and found a person who had been shot to death.

“The victim has not been identified,” Gallegos said.

At 1 a.m., police were dispatched to a shooting at a home in the 10000 block of Antler Tool SW, northwest of Dennis Chavez and 98th. Officers found a man dead in the entryway of a home.

“The adult male was reportedly trying to force his way into the home and the homeowner fired his handgun through the door, striking and killing the man,” Gallegos said. “Detectives are investigating the shooting as a possible justifiable homicide.”