Albuquerque, NM (KKOB) – A man who was shot during a burglary of a Nob Hill store on Sunday has been arrested by Albuquerque Police.
Joseph Montoya, 37, survived the gunshot wound and now detectives believe he may be a suspect in several other burglaries.
Officers responded to the burglary call early Sunday morning at Cardboard Collectors, located at 530 Washington St., N.E. After reviewing surveillance video, the owner of the store learned that a suspect first broke into the store around 4 a.m., then returned with another person at 5:30 a.m.
Ad officers investigated the burglaries, they determined the owner of a neighboring business heard the break-in at 5:30 a.m. and attempted to intervene. That business owner said one of the suspects ducked behind a counter, then popped out and pulled his hand out of his pocket. The business owner feared for his life and produced his own handgun and shot the suspect. The second suspect approached the owner, who fired a second gunshot. The men engaged in an altercation and one of the suspects took the owner’s firearm away and escaped with the wounded suspect.
At 6:30 a.m., officers were called to UNMH to investigate a shooting victim, who identified himself as Montoya, and said he was shot while walking in the area of Tramway and Manitoba N.E. Montoya claimed the shooting was not intentional.
Detectives investigated throughout the day and suspected Montoya was actually shot during the burglary in Nob Hill. Detectives executed a search warrant at Montoya’s residence, located at 5608 Eastern Ave., S.E., and located 10 bags of Pokemon cards and sports trading cards stolen from the store and estimated to be worth thousands of dollars. Detectives also located a sweatshirt with blood, burglary tools and the handgun believed to be taken from the neighboring store owner after the shooting.
Montoya was arrested at the residence and later charged with aggravated burglary, larceny over $2,500, larceny of a firearm, tampering with evidence, conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary and criminal damage less than $1,000.
The owner of store who shot Montoya is not being charged with a crime.
