ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Amid all the celebrations, law enforcement was busy trying to stay on top of all the crime in the metro. There were multiple homicide investigations and a teen who escaped from the Youth Services Center.

The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office says 19-year-old Josef Toney broke out of that facility Saturday afternoon around 1:30. Toney was convicted of killing two people back in 2021 when he was 16 years old.

Court records say surveillance shows him messing with a lock on the patio at YSC before he escaped. 

BCSO Sheriff John Allen says Toney turned himself in on Sunday morning at 1:30. He was booked at the Metropolitan Detention Center with a new charge – escaping from jail. This time, he’s being charged as an adult. 

But Allen is raising a lot of red flags. He says his department wasn’t notified until four hours after Toney escaped. Albuquerque police arrived and did an “attempt to locate” in the area.

Allen began pushing for change to the children’s code and YSC policies after a disturbance at the facility in December. This incident just makes him push harder.

“After the Dec. 25 incident here, I told everybody, I warned you, and here we are. I warned you, and we are very lucky that nobody else during this incident was hurt,” said Allen.

Albuquerque police were also very busy this weekend. They’re investigating three homicides, all in different parts of our metro. KOB 4 talked to a woman who lives steps away from one of those crime scenes.

Karen Zavala says she and her husband took their two young kids on a hike this morning, as a peaceful start to the holiday. But that all changed when they came home.

“I was pretty sick to my stomach,” said Zavala. 

Albuquerque police say a woman was found shot to death in a vehicle near Lomas and Louisiana. It happened around 11:30 Monday morning, right in front of Zavala’s apartment. 

“I’m a stay at home mom. I’m literally terrified to take my two young kids out and put them in the car because this area is just unsafe, and anything can happen, and I don’t like that,” Zavala said. 

APD says the violent weekend started Friday night. A man was found shot and killed off Gibson and San Mateo. 

On Saturday afternoon, police say they found a man in the parking lot at an apartment complex off 98th and Gibson with severe wounds. They say he died after an altercation at that complex.

“When I think about maybe I want to move to a different part of town, I don’t think that would matter. I think it’s just really frustrating, and I feel like the city officials here are not doing their job,” said Zavala. 

Police haven’t released the names of victims or suspects in these cases. But Zavala says she’s had enough. 

“I feel like leaving Albuquerque because of all this, and it’s sad,” said Zavala.