Police shoot suspect who fled 'bait car' in NE Albuquerque
Jul. 5—ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Albuquerque police shot a suspect on Monday morning in northeast Albuquerque who had stolen a "bait car" from Louisiana and Central and driven to an apartment complex on the 5900 block of Osuna Road NE.
The male suspect is being treated at the hospital with "non-life threatening injuries," police said.
Albuquerque Police Department Deputy Chief Eric Garcia said that a bait car was activated near Central and Louisiana at 7:30 Monday morning.
Officers tracked the vehicle to a location just north of Osuna Apartments, where they deactivated the vehicle.
"At least one officer fired his weapon at the driver of the vehicle," Garcia told reporters Monday as APD investigated the scene. "We did find another firearm on scene. After the subject exited the vehicle, he traveled southbound into the apartment complex, where he was taken into custody by officers on scene."
Garcia said he did not know if the suspect had any connection to the apartment complex.
APD spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said they would know more about why one or multiple officers shot the suspect, along with details of the "foot chase" from the vehicle, once officers had been interviewed.
Albuquerque police park bait cars in regions with high crime and auto thefts.
"Sometimes (there) are bait packages inside the cars, and GPS monitors," Gallegos said. "So if someone opens a door, it will notify our dispatchers and the auto theft guys."
Both Garcia and Gallegos said investigators did not know yet if there was video recorded inside the bait car during the suspect's drive to Osuna Road NE, where APD deactivated the vehicle.
"A lot of times the guys just give up, but a lot of times they get out and run on foot," Gallegos said. "That's basically what happened here, but at this point he had a gun and that's what we're trying figure out what happened from there."
Brittney Lamm, who lives in Osuna Apartments with her boyfriend and two children, was coming home from a friend's house Monday morning when her boyfriend called to say he heard what sounded like a "big crash" and "shots fired."
"I had to call out of work," Lamm said, because police had not yet let apartment residents who were not in the complex when the incident occurred back into the residences.
A section of Osuna Road NE between San Mateo and San Pedro remained closed off while officers investigated the scene.
