Shootout leaves 3 dead in Southeast Albuquerque

Police said an apparent drug deal turned into a gunfight that left two men and a woman dead early Thursday morning in a Southeast Albuquerque neighborhood.

Chief Harold Medina of the Albuquerque Police Department said all three people were adults and officers found drugs and "numerous guns" at the scene, including some that appeared to have been fired until empty.

"This appears to be some sort of narcotics transaction that resulted in some type of shootout in the neighborhood," he said, noting that the area is "well known" to officers as there was a police shooting there a few weeks ago.

Police did not identify the people who were killed.

Medina said officers detained a man who was in the area and had a felony warrant but it is unclear if the man was involved in the shooting.

Around 4:30 a.m., officers were investigating a crash at Rhode Island and Zuni SE when they heard gunfire in a nearby neighborhood.

Medina said police followed the sound of gunshots and found a woman and two men who had been shot in the 300 block of Rhode Island. He said two of the people were pronounced dead at the scene and one person later died at a hospital.

Medina asked anyone with information on the shooting call 242-COPS.

Triple homicide in Southeast Albuquerque