Authorities come together to tackle youth gun violence in Downtown

Jul. 18—Local law enforcement vowed Thursday to crack down on young people using Downtown parking garages as a place to drink, do drugs and flash guns — in at least one instance leading to the death of a 17-year-old.

"It is deadly, it is costing lives and it is also tremendously scary," Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said of the emerging trend, calling the combination of teens and guns "the biggest problem in the city."

It is not altogether unheard of.

In 2022, a group of teens was caught on video firing guns from a Downtown parking garage, shooting out windows at the newly built Bernalillo County headquarters.

Keller said during a news conference Thursday that, more recently, overall crime has been down in Downtown, but parking garages continue to be a magnet for teenagers engaging in criminal activity.

On June 25, police found several teens drinking, pointing guns at each other and "taking selfies with their firearms" in a garage near Sixth and Coal SW. When they searched the vehicle the teens were in, they found three guns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and large amounts of cocaine and fentanyl.

Five days later, police responding to a shooting in another parking garage found Mariano Salazar, 17, shot to death. A weekend later, an officer watched as a young man flashed an AR-15 rifle during a dispute inside a separate parking garage from the previous two incidents.

On Thursday, Keller was flanked by representatives of the Albuquerque Police Department, Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office, New Mexico State Police and the FBI as well as District Attorney Sam Bregman to decry the violence.

"We have a united message, which is simple: we will not tolerate this kind of crime," he said.

Keller said he asked previous BCSO leadership "a gazillion times" to help Downtown, but to no avail.

"This sheriff says yes. This sheriff has created a unit to help all over the city. This sheriff is a partner for Albuquerque," Keller said, referring to current Sheriff John Allen, who recently announced a four-person Metro Unit to patrol the city streets.

Allen said he will have his deputies patrol Downtown and the parking garages every Friday and Saturday, leaving the door open for more coverage to assist APD.

Medina said even 29 officers were having trouble handling crowds and armed youth and "not getting everywhere we needed to be." He said a few calls had Allen, State Police and Bregman send more manpower.

"There's still no challenge that we haven't addressed when we've worked together ... to make Albuquerque a better place," Medina said.

To hit the point home on youths and guns, Bregman said his prosecutors have charged 19 teens with murder in the past 18 months. He had a message for teens: "You do serious crime; there will be serious consequences."

"It is unacceptable. People that live Downtown have a right not only to be safe but to feel safe," he added.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Raul Bujanda took a different tact, addressing parents.

"If you talk to your children, they will listen. Even though it seems like they're not listening or they don't care or they would rather listen to the groups that they're running with, they are paying attention," he said. "Let's make sure we start where it needs to start, which is in the home."