Rudy’s employee recounts parking lot shooting

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Last Friday, two people were shot in the parking lot of the Rudy’s Bar-B-Q on Carlisle.

“It was scary, I did not get much sleep that night,” said a Rudy’s employee. “The first thing that I heard was one of our managers saying, ‘Everybody get down, everybody get down,’ and then he started yelling, ‘Run to the back, run to the back,’ so I ran out to the back, put a couple people in my car, and left.”

She said her manager had been trying to kick out a customer who was on the patio.

“I believe that the guy had thought that there was somebody following him, and there was a car that pulled into the parking lot and that’s what he shot at,” the employee said.

Police later arrested the alleged shooter, Emilio Mirabal.

New Mexico State Police said one of their officers and an Albuquerque police officer shot at Mirabel, but he wasn’t hit.

The Rudy’s worker said it was chaos inside the restaurant before police arrived.

“I was scared but like whenever he said get down I fell to the floor, I was quick,” she said. “And whenever he said to run, I sprinted out.”

She said it’s been hard to process.

“I’m definitely feeling more cautious like out in public I’m definitely looking around more and whenever I’m taking people’s orders I’m always seeing if they’re reaching in their pockets,” she said.

As for Mirabal, police said he told them the charges he’s facing in this shooting “aren’t that bad.”