Neighbors concerned over crime at Los Duranes Park
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Neighbors in Los Duranes are uneasy to say the least. Many of them say they heard at least 30 rounds of gunfire Sunday night.
Police aren’t saying much about what happened, but detectives are piecing it together.
At the moment, neighbors didn’t know if one of those bullets would end up in their home or hurt one of their loved ones.
“I freaked out through my headphones off, ran in and told my mom to get down on the ground,” said Stef, who lives near Los Duranes Park.
Many neighbors say they’ve unfortunately gotten used to the sound of gunshots at night in the area, but this time was different.
“We realized, again, it was multiple gunshots in our neighborhood, and it sounded like it was coming from Duranes Park. We were all scared. Everybody started calling everybody like, ‘Are you OK? Are you OK?’” said Joella Apodaca, who lives near Los Duranes Park.
However, police say two teens were not OK after a shooting at Los Duranes Park Sunday night.
Neighbors say they heard at least 30 shots. Apodaca says this isn’t the first time they’ve heard gun fire in the area.
“In just a week it’s probably been three times,” said Apodaca. “It’s not people in the neighborhood, I don’t think that are doing this. So the park is dark, it’s quiet, it’s rural, and it’s doesn’t feel safe anymore in our own neighborhood.”
Apodaca says she’d support the city making moves at the park, just so she and her neighbors can have some peace.
“This is happening so often at Duranes Park, and I’m just hoping maybe they consider closing our park up at night. Chain linking it, doing something to close it, so cars can’t come through at night, so we can all sleep,” Apodaca said.
She’s also frustrated because she says APD told them to call in the shootings. But Apodaca claims there’s not much follow up, and she’s not the only one with those concerns.
“I wish APD would get more involved instead of just telling us, call them, call them. Because nothing seems to be improving, gunshots keep happening,” said Apodaca.
Another neighbor we spoke to also want to see changes with APD, but doesn’t think locking up the park will help.
“We just need our law enforcement and our judges to take care of the situation,” said Eddie Lopez, who lives near Los Duranes Park. “I hope APD, somebody from there sees this, and maybe we can get some patrols at night.”
A different neighbor says while she’s gotten used to hearing gunshots, something about Sunday’s shooting was entirely different.
“We’ve had guns go down or shots on this road before. That sounded like shots, this did not sound like shots. It was the most incredible, loud sound I’ve ever heard. And then it was silent. There was, like, no car sounds, no screaming, no yelling,” said Stef.
In fact, she’s so scared and fed up, she’s considering moving.
“I want out of this neighborhood. It’s dangerous. It wasn’t like this before. It just, it wasn’t,” said Stef.
An APD spokesperson says someone called 911 Sunday night saying they were driving shooting victims to the hospital. They got into a car crash and an ambulance was able to take over.
Police say the two victims are 17 and 18 years old, and they’re both expected to be OK.
Detectives with the gun violence reduction unit are investigating.