NEWS
Police arrest suspect in Coors road rage shooting
22-year-old allegedly fired multiple rounds into a family’s vehicle, wounding a woman and teen
Published
Police have made an arrest in an alleged road rage shooting that left two people injured on Albuquerque's West Side last week.
Houston Raul Ruiz Licon, 22, is charged with aggravated battery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He was taken into custody at a home in Southwest Albuquerque and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Tuesday.
On March 3, around 9 p.m., officers responded to a 911 call reporting a shooting in the 800 block of Coors NW, north of Central, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.
The caller told police that multiple people had been shot by someone in a pickup truck after a road rage incident, the complaint states.
Arriving officers found a woman and a teen with gunshot wounds, said Gilbert Gallegos, spokesperson for the Albuquerque Police Department. The two were taken to a hospital.
Officers spoke with the teenager, who said he and his family were driving north on Coors when Ruiz Licon began driving "aggressively next to their vehicle" and started to rev his engine in what witnesses believe was an attempt to provoke a race, according to the complaint.
The teen told police he told Ruiz Licon that there were children in the car before Ruiz Licon fired multiple rounds into their vehicle, the complaint states.
The ShotSpotter detection system indicated five rounds had been fired at the time. Police searched the scene and found multiple shell casings of different sizes, which led them to believe two guns were used, according to the complaint.
"Detectives publicized photos of the older model pickup truck involved in the shooting and received several tips through Albuquerque Metro Crime Stoppers," Gallegos said. "They also used license-plate readers to help identify Ruiz Licon."
Nakayla McClelland covers crime and breaking news. Reach her at nmcclelland@abqjournal.com or at 505-823-3857.
