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Albuquerque police ask for help finding man they say killed four-year-old girl Police question person of interest in four-year-old girl's shooting death
(about 3 hours later)
Police appealed for the public’s help Wednesday as they search for a man they say killed a four-year-old girl on an Albuquerque freeway in a road rage shooting. A person of interest was taken into custody Wednesday in a road rage shooting that killed a four-year-old girl on a freeway in New Mexico’s largest city, police said.
Detectives believe the man in his mid-20s or early 30s was driving a recent model maroon or dark red Toyota Corolla or Camry with a spoiler on the trunk and dark tinted windows, officer Tanner Tixier said. The car also had a University of New Mexico license plate. Police said they would provide more information later on the break in the case. They have pleaded for the public’s help in finding a man they say opened fire on a pickup truck driven by Lilly Garcia’s father soon after he picked up her and her seven-year-old brother from school Tuesday.
Police chief Gorden Eden has described the shooting about an hour before the start of Tuesday evening rush hour in New Mexico’s largest city as an unexplainable crime brought on by road rage. Interstate 40, the highway where the shooting happened, would have been heavy with traffic at the time, he said. The girl’s father drove onto Interstate 40 after the children climbed into the backseat, Police Chief Gorden Eden said earlier at a news conference. The assailant and the father, neither of whom have been identified, were heading west when one car pulled up to the other and the shooter opened fire, police said.
“We need the community’s help. You had to have seen something. Please call us,” Eden said. It’s not clear what led the incident to escalate.
The assailant and the girl’s father, who was driving a pickup truck, were heading west near the city’s west side when one car pulled up to the other and the assailant opened fire, police said. It’s not clear what led the incident to escalate. Police say they struggled with the initial investigation and search for the shooter because of a storm that swept over the Albuquerque area soon after the shooting, witnesses’ varying descriptions of the suspect and a crime scene that could span 2 miles.
Shortly after the shooting, a Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputy arrived, pulling up to a vehicle he believed was in distress and finding the child inside, police said. The child’s parents were not injured. The father told officers the shooting was the result of road rage. Authorities are pressing for tips, offering roughly $25,000 for information that leads to the arrest of the shooter, who was driving a newer model maroon or dark red Toyota Corolla or Camry with a spoiler on the trunk and dark tinted windows. The car also had a University of New Mexico license plate.
The girl was rushed to the hospital, where she died. The names of the child and the shooter have not been released. Details about a suspect, described as in his mid-20s or early 30s, emerged after police investigated more than a dozen leads, Eden said.
Eden said the girl’s death was a “terrible, tragic loss” and a “disrespect for human life”. Albuquerque officers “have not stopped or slept”, the police chief said. “Every officer in law enforcement in New Mexico is currently looking for the vehicle I described.”
“This is one of those crimes that is unexplainable,” he said. “It’s 100% preventable. It did not have to happen. We need to rise up as a community and say enough is enough.” He has called the shooting about an hour before the start of evening rush hour an unexplainable crime brought on by road rage. Interstate 40 would have been heavy with traffic at the time, he said.
Detectives were interviewing multiple witnesses, Eden said. “We need the community’s help. You had to have seen something. Please call us,” Eden said Tuesday.
“Our priority is always the collection and preservation of evidence,” he said. “We should never see these incidents happen.” Mayor Richard Berry said Wednesday that the senseless slaying “cut to the core” of the community. The city is offering $20,000 for information leading to an arrest, while the FBI announced a $5,000 reward as the agency opened its own investigation.
Police worked with state transportation officials to post requests for tips on interstate billboards, Officer Tanner Tixier said. He did not know if detectives were able to collect shell casings or other ballistic evidence.
“We are putting out a full court press on this one,” Tixier said. “It’s definitely a very difficult scene to work, not only emotionally because a four-year-old died ... There are lots of things that really affected our evidence collecting that have been outside our control.”
Shortly after the shooting, a Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputy pulled up to a vehicle he believed was in distress and found the wounded child inside, police said. The child’s father and brother were not injured, and the father told officers the shooting was the result of road rage. The girl was rushed to the hospital, where she died.
Detectives interviewed multiple witnesses, Eden said.
The shooting comes after a road rage shooting last month in which police say a man fired at another driver in self-defense. Prosecutors were reviewing the 9 September shooting that wounded 34-year-old Jacoby Johnson.The shooting comes after a road rage shooting last month in which police say a man fired at another driver in self-defense. Prosecutors were reviewing the 9 September shooting that wounded 34-year-old Jacoby Johnson.