APD: Man shot at burglar who was actually the owner
‘It is unknown what prompts defendant in acting out his vision of the world,’ prosecutor says
An attempted good deed backfired as police say an armed Albuquerque man who may have been inebriated fired at two people he believed were breaking into a Northeast Albuquerque car wash, at one point exclaiming, “I’m gonna light your (expletive) up.”
The suspected thieves? They turned out to be the car wash owner and a friend, who were there to fix a vacuum.
The alleged shooter, 32-year-old Brandon Rafool, was charged Wednesday with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, shooting from a motor vehicle and negligent use of a deadly weapon in the Jan. 25 incident.
Rafool has been booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center. It is unclear if he has an attorney.
“It is unknown what prompts (Rafool) in acting out his vision of the world. He will injure or kill someone before he is done,” prosecutors wrote in a motion to detain Rafool until trial.
The day of the incident, two 911 calls came into dispatch around 7 p.m.
On one call, a man reported shooting a gun “to scare” two thieves he saw breaking into a car wash. On the other, the car wash owner reported cowering on the floor of his office after someone fired bullets at him and a friend.
Officers were dispatched to the car wash near Comanche and San Mateo NE. They found the two men hiding inside the business and a bullet casing on the ground nearby.
Police said the owner and friend told them they were fixing a vacuum when they heard a shot and something “whizzing by.” The men said a man in a Jeep began circling the business, repeatedly pointing a gun and threatening them before firing an additional bullet.
The officer was able to identify Rafool as the suspect “because he called 911 identifying himself by name and the phone number he called from was registered to him,” according to the complaint.
Police said Rafool could be heard “slurring and stumbling over his words” in the 911 call, leading them to believe he was intoxicated.
Surveillance video showed a gunshot
being fired from a Jeep while the two men were working on the vacuum, according to the complaint. The driver then circled the business, pointing a gun out the window.
Police said the driver could be heard yelling, “come out before I put one in you,” “cops are already on their way homie” and “I’m gonna light your (expletive) up.”
At one point, Rafool told someone pulling in for a car wash that “thieves were inside” and “to not use the car wash,” according to the complaint. When the person began to leave, Rafool told 911 dispatchers, “look, they’re leaving now,” referring to the “thieves.”
Rafool did not answer the phone when police tried to get back in touch with him.