APD: Home intruder fatally shot, another escapes

Homeowner has not been charged

When an Albuquerque homeowner found two masked intruders inside his home late Saturday, he opened fire and killed one of them, according to police.

Officers were called to a house in the 9500 block of Sunburst Road, near 98th and Sage, around 11:30 p.m. by a resident reporting that two people were breaking in.

“The homeowner challenged the subjects and fired his handgun at them when he observed them in a room of his home armed with blunt objects or edged weapons,” Albuquerque Police Department spokesman Simon Drobik said in a news release.

Police arrived to find a masked man dressed in all black dead in the front yard.

By Sunday afternoon, there was no sign of what happened late Saturday and some residents described a relatively quiet neighborhood. But others said that the area had recently deteriorated and that nearby vacant homes had become hot spots for drug and gang activity.

One said that drugs have always been an issue in the neighborhood, but that the problem has grown, and with it, property crime.

“They’re running out of stuff on the outside (of the houses) to take,” he said, adding that residents are forced to think about what they would do if they found someone inside.

“I’m just scared for my family,” he said.

Neighbors said they heard the gunshots late Saturday and watched as around a dozen officers swarmed the home.

Drobik said the case remains under investigation, but the homeowner is not facing charges at this time.

“He did explain to us that he was in fear for his life,” Drobik said.

Police on Sunday evening were looking for a second suspect who they believed fled the scene after the shooting.

Also on Sunday evening, police swarmed a house on a neighboring street, placing multiple people in handcuffs after ordering them at gunpoint out of the house, which neighbors described as a trouble spot in the neighborhood.