Authorities in New Mexico’s largest city Albuquerque, rushed to find out on Friday, September 13, what triggered the separate acts of shootings in the city previous night, that killed five people and wounded six others. The leaders and residents of the city are tired of the growing incidents of violence. There were no immediate arrests on the Thursday night’s shootings. The authorities, however, are yet to conclude whether there were any connections between the shootings. Deputy Police Chief Harold Medina, called the violence “senseless acts” during a news conference early Friday, and Mayor Tim Keller called the shootings “appalling.”

Keller said in a statement, “There is much more work to do to tackle crime in our city, we are fed up with the gun violence, gang and addiction issues gripping parts of our city, and I am determined to keep fighting against violence in our city — on behalf of the families who lost loved ones last night and all the families who have lost loved ones to violence.” 

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Crime figures in Albuquerque

Statistics released by the mayor this summer show a decrease in the number of certain violent offenses, including robberies, aggravated assaults and rapes. There were 32 homicides reported in the first six months of the year and 94 shootings in which people were injured, both less than the same period in 2018.

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Chronology of the shootings

The Thursday night shootings happened in different parts of the city over a span of about 90 minutes. Officers responded shortly after 9 p.m. to a call of shots fired at a home in the south valley where three people were found dead. A fourth died at the hospital, and two others suffered injuries that were not life-threatening. About 15 minutes earlier, officers received a report of gunfire at an apartment complex on Albuquerque’s northwest side. One person died and three others were injured, including one person who was in critical condition on Friday. Earlier, at 7:30 p.m., officers went to another apartment complex on the northeast side and found a man who was shot in the neck after an altercation with a couple who had broken into a neighbour’s apartment and stolen a purse.

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The Police had called in additional resources due to the complexity of the scenes and the detectives were trying to analyze the scenes to get more information.

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