Man arrested after SWAT standoff had airsoft rifle
The man arrested after an hourslong SWAT standoff at his southwest Albuquerque home Saturday had been armed with an airsoft rifle made to look like an assault weapon, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.
Around 1 p.m. Saturday, police were called to the 900 block of Pacific SW, south of the Albuquerque BioPark, after neighbors reported a man was intoxicated and waving what looked like an AK-47-style weapon around.
When officers arrived, they found the man, later identified as Benjamin Cano, 31, walking back and forth between his own home on Pacific and his neighbor’s home on 9th Street SW, according to the complaint.
“The two residences have connecting yards that have access through a gate,” a detective wrote in the complaint. “Officers were unable to position themselves to stop the subject.”
The Albuquerque Police Department SWAT team was called to arrest Cano, and the New Mexico State Police and Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the scene to assist.
Around 10 p.m., SWAT officers took Cano into custody. When they executed the search warrant on the house, they found an airsoft rifle with the orange tip on the barrel painted black so it would resemble a real assault rifle, according to the complaint.
Cano is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center. He was still in custody Monday.