Police arrest suspect in deadly SE Albuquerque shooting
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Police arrested a suspect accused of a deadly shooting that happened over the weekend in southeast Albuquerque.
Police say on Monday morning they arrested 19-year-old Joshua Dickens. They accuse Dickens of shooting a man by a bus stop Saturday morning near a tobacco shop at Central and Indiana.
According to APD, officers responded to reports of a shooting near Central and Indiana Street at around 11 a.m. Saturday. The caller reported hearing a loud bang. Then, they saw a man on the ground by a bus stop as another man ran west on Central.
Officers arrived and found a man on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound to his chest. They also found a black baton next to him.
Police said one man was shot and taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. They identified the victim as Eric Purley.
Homicide detectives arrived just after noon. They interviewed witnesses, including a security guard for the Smoke City tobacco shop at the corner of Central and Indiana.
The guard reportedly told police that he saw a man in a blue shirt, later identified as Dickens. Dickens walked north on Indiana, then west on Central to just beyond the bus stop when a gunshot rang out. Then, the guard said they saw Dickens run further west from the bus stop.
Police learned from the guard that Dickens had been in the shop earlier in the day and pointed them toward a video of Dickens giving his ID while purchasing some items around 9:20 a.m. Saturday.
Just before 11 a.m., the video showed Dickens walking in the directions the guard described. The video also showed him pulling a handgun from his waistband at Purley, prompting an altercation. Then, the video showed Purley falling to the ground, clutching his chest with his left hand and a baton in his right hand, as Dickens ran off.
Officers talked to a concerned citizen who said they saw a man reportedly laughing and giggling about an incident, reportedly confessing to shooting someone who had hit him in the neck with an object. The citizen said they knew all about the man, including that he often carried a particular gun in his waistband.
The witness also positively identified the man as Dickens from the driver’s license photo and the smoke shop’s still photo that police obtained.
Police determined they had enough to draw up a warrant for Dickens’ arrest. He now faces charges of murder and tampering with evidence.