A man says he was shot at by a suspect at the center of a shoot out with police.
BERNALILLO, N.M. — A man said what started as a regular carpool meet-up quickly turned into a frantic life-threatening situation in Bernalillo Tuesday morning. A suspect was taken into custody for a shooting and search that shut down the town of Bernalillo.
He was meeting colleagues at a park and ride at the Bernalillo Rail Runner station to head to work in Los Alamos. He wanted to remain anonymous, because he’s still shaken up about what happened.
“In the parking lot where we just pulled out of, we see a man standing there with a firearm drawn, you know, walking towards us and shooting at our vehicle. And I see the muzzle flash,” he said.
He said everything was normal until he went back to his car because he forgot his wallet. That’s when gunshots rang out.
“Something like it almost sounded like we ran over, like, some baling wire. And we’re kind of like looking around to see if we ran to something over. And my coworker, who was driving the vehicle said, like, ‘Oh, is that gunshots?’” he said.
He said the driver of the truck he was in hit the gas and as they fled at least five more rounds were fired as they exited the parking lot and headed towards U.S. Highway 550 in Bernalillo.
He said then the suspect chased them in his own car. At first, some thought this was a road rage incident– but the passenger says they didn’t interact with him at all before the gunfire.
Everything happened quickly and his coworker driving managed to get them away. But some of those shots hit the truck.
“We all kind of realized at the same time, so all of us kind of got lower. I got as low as I could,” he said. “I was in the backseat, passenger side, where the bullet hole struck and broke the window. I thought for sure there were several bullets hitting the vehicle and going through the window and stuff. But luckily, it was just the one and the door completely stopped it.”
The passenger says he didn’t get a good look at the suspect, he could only see their silhouette.
But Bernalillo police say they caught up with the man around 7 a.m. and found him hiding in a ditch bank above Bernalillo High School.
They say he opened fire engaging officers in a gun battle. No officers were hit and the man was arrested. Police did not say if the suspect was hurt. New Mexico State Police are investigating the officer-involved shooting.
Bernalillo Public Schools at first delayed all schools by two hours before then canceling schools for the day. They sent a statement explaining its transportation department is located on Bernalillo High School’s campus so as a precaution they didn’t allow the buses to leave, which is why schools were shut down for the day.
The Rail Runner was also shut down for the delay.
The announcement of the man’s arrest didn’t come until hours later though, Bernalillo police say that’s because they wanted to make sure there wasn’t a second suspect or an ongoing threat.
“We were all kind of talking and just being like, Man, I hope that he didn’t like, go back and start shooting more people,” the passenger said.
Police have not released the name of the suspect, but KOB 4 will provide updates as we get them.
