Neighbor uses shotgun to stop Christmas Eve burglar
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—A man who was allegedly trying to break into cars in a northeast Albuquerque neighborhood was caught red-handed by a resident.
Dwight Rivera said he woke to the sound of screaming early Tuesday morning and found his neighbor had pulled a shotgun on a man attempting to break into his car.
“This morning early at three o’clock my RING went off and I saw a man with shotgun and yelling at somebody and I thought it was just a fight but it was somebody breaking into the car and he caught him red-handed,” Rivera said.
Rivera said he could hear his neighbor yelling commands at the alleged burglar over his security system.
“‘Stay down or I’ll blow your head off. Don’t move!’ And he was complaining that ‘Oh my back is hurting me, I have to get up,’ and he said if you move ‘I swear I’ll shoot you’ and you hear this on the RING,” he said.
Police eventually responded and arrested Dakota Estrada. This was the fourth time since September that Estrada has been arrested for breaking into cars.
“These guys should be put in jail for doing this stuff. I could have been shot by the crossfire. This is crazy. And around Christmas time this is even more crazy,” Rivera said.
Estrada was charged with auto burglary. He will make an appearance in court later this week.
1 suspect dead, 1 hurt after attempting to rob fireworks stand
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — Two suspects were shot after they attempted to rob a fireworks stand on Christmas Eve in west Harris County, officials say.
It happened at a stand located at 4820 Highway 6 at around 8:30 p.m.
According to a tweet posted by Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, three to four men tried to rob the stand when two of them were shot by an employee.
“He’s supposed to be stumbling behind the strip center. Possibly 2 shot. One for sure is probably going to be confirmed,” dispatchers told paramedics at the scene.
Gonzalez says the employee ‘disarmed one of the males’ and shot at the suspects.
“It either results in someone being in prison or someone ending up dead,” Gonzalez said. “In this case the owner was, from early indications, trying to protect himself and the location from robbery.”
One of the suspects who was shot died at the scene, while the other was sent to the hospital. His condition was not released.
The Sheriff’s Office identified the injured suspect as 30-year-old Derrell Ridley. He has nine prior charges with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.