Police arrest suspect after late-night shooting
Victim shot in head, hospitalized in critical condition
Police have arrested a man accused of shooting an acquaintance in the head, critically injuring him, in a northwest Albuquerque townhouse community late Wednesday night.
Jacob Balizer, 29, was booked into the county jail and is charged with aggravated battery and shooting at or from a motor vehicle.
Around 11:15 p.m., officers were called to the La Luz townhouse community near Coors and Montaño after reports of a shooting. When they arrived at the wide, quiet street lined with garages and leading up to the community tennis courts, they found a man had been shot once in the head while sitting in the driver’s seat of his car.
Kyle Jenkins was taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital where he was still in critical condition Thursday morning. Police have not provided his age.
Balizer, who lives in the corner home on the street with his grandmother, remained nearby and was taken into custody.
His grandmother, who said she had been up all night, declined an interview request.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, Balizer did not give a statement to police. But his friend told detectives Balizer had been driving her and his girlfriend to Rio Rancho to pick up a friend when he noticed Jenkins parked on the street.
“(Both women) mentioned Jacob pulled up next to Kyle’s vehicle on the passenger side and began yelling at Kyle,” a detective wrote in the complaint. “According to (both women), Jacob brandished a black colored semi-automatic handgun and fired one round from Jacob’s vehicle into Kyle’s vehicle, striking Kyle in the face.”
The women said they began applying pressure to Jenkins’ head and called police and rescue workers. They said Balizer fled the scene but returned a short time later.
A police spokesman said early Thursday morning that the suspect and the victim knew each other but no information was provided about why they were fighting or how they knew each other. Balizer does not have a criminal history in New Mexico, according to online court records.