A northeast ABQ apartment complex exploded this weekend — but records show the same complex exploded 6 years ago too.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A weekend explosion in a northeast Albuquerque apartment wasn’t the first at the same complex.
Six years ago, a different unit at Village at Sandia, 12899 Central Ave. NE, exploded. Albuquerque Fire Rescue also responded to that scene.
A viewer who lived at the apartment complex six years ago reached out to KOB 4 with the tip that this wasn’t the first explosion. KOB 4 dug through its own archives and pulled a records request to confirm.
We learned Oct. 1, 2020, Unit 292 exploded. Six years later, on Oct. 10, 2026, a unit in the building next to it exploded. Tuesday, crews worked on fixing that damage. From the street, you can see caution tape, and Unit 405’s door is still completely blown off.
What happened in 2020?
In 2020, Village at Sandia was called Crestridge Apartments. It was also under different ownership.
A records request for AFR’s 2020 report does not show a cause. KOB 4 was told it was given the full fire report.
However, it does note that up to five days before the explosion, tenants smelled gas and smelled gas after the explosion.
According to the report, gas was shut off to the building. New Mexico Gas Company also performed underground gas leak checks. Tuesday, a spokesperson said the ignition source in the 2020 explosion was not natural gas.
Shawn Gallahue told KOB 4 he moved in about one month after the 2020 explosion, which he says the apartment complex did not disclose.
Monica Logroño: “When you saw the news of this this past weekend, what were you thinking?”
Gallahue: “Everything from 2020 just came back.”
“They red tagged the whole building,” Gallahue continued. “The explosion happened a month before I moved in. But since then, that explosion just caused more gas problems and water leaks.”
He moved out after seven months because of all of those issues.
Gallahue didn’t feel comfortable going on camera, but said he reached out to KOB 4 because he wants to make sure people know this isn’t the first time this has happened there. Despite the ownership change, Gallahue said the fact that this happened again makes him feel like it’s not being taken seriously.
“I do feel that they need to take it more serious and check everything out,” he said. “I don’t want anybody else to get hurt. [Residents] deserve a safe place to live without being afraid of being blown up.”
What does Village at Sandia have to say?
Tuesday, the manager at Village at Sandia said the previous explosion is completely unrelated because of the ownership change. She also pointed to the fact that in the latest explosion, New Mexico Gas Company said it was not its system that caused the explosion.
As for Saturday’s explosion, she said most of the nearby impacted units were vacant. Any tenant living in an impacted unit has been moved to a different unit on the property. One person, the victim currently hospitalized, is displaced.
AFR initially reported witnesses smelled gas this weekend, but on Monday said the explosion was accidental and the cause was undetermined.
