2 arrested in shootout at day care parking lot
APD working to identify suspects on the other side of gunfight
Police have arrested two men who they say were on one side of a chaotic gunfight that injured two bystanders, including a young child, in the parking lot of a Northeast Albuquerque day care center Monday evening.
And detectives are still trying to identify suspects on the other side, said officer Simon Drobik, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department.
Andre Robinson, 20, and Ja’Karl Jenkins, 19, were booked into the county jail and are charged with shooting at or from a motor vehicle. Jenkins is also charged with conspiracy, tampering with evidence and receiving a stolen firearm.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, officers were called to the parking lot of Noah’s Ark Children’s Center on Montgomery near Carlisle NE for reports of more than 20 shots fired. Callers initially said a child had been shot and was bleeding, but when police arrived they found a young girl had been cut by flying shards of glass when her family’s car window shattered. The girl’s mother took her to a hospital and she is expected to be fine, Drobik said.
He said a man who was in another vehicle — returning from dinner with his family — was shot and injured. He’s in stable condition.
When officers arrived at the scene, they saw a silver Chevy Impala race through a stop sign and crash into a truck at an intersection.
The two passengers fled to a nearby apartment complex, but the driver, Robinson, was taken into custody. The passengers were seen on the roof of a building a short time later.
Drobik said Jenkins, who had a firearm on him, was arrested but the second man was released after questioning. Police also found a shotgun in the Impala, according to the complaint.
Drobik said the men have not cooperated during interviews with detectives and have not said why the gunfight started.
According to the complaint, Jenkins told detectives he “recognized one of the subjects in the vehicle from a previous incident, and then admitted … he and Andre fired their weapons at them.”
Jenkins said the people in the other vehicle fired back.
Drobik said many different bullet casings were found on scene, indicating that many firearms were involved.