19-year-old charged with fleeing after ABQ police target ‘underage’ crimes

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Authorities arrested a 19-year-old after a Downtown ‘operation’ targeting underaged people with alcohol and firearms in parking garages. The incident started around 12:49 a.m. on Saturday.

Albuquerque Police Department (APD) stated two people drove into a parking lot on Central Avenue and parked on the top floor. After parking, they allegedly approached a group, and two people began to argue. One person retrieved an AR-15-style rifle from a vehicle, APD claimed, and concealed it in his pants and shirt. He talked to the person he was arguing with again, and the other person walked away. A detective saw the gun exposed before it was concealed again.

The people in the garage started to flee once someone yelled ‘cops.’ Officers tried to give commands to the vehicle with the firearm-possessing passenger, but they didn’t comply. The vehicle hit multiple cars, including a police car, when they were fleeing.

A tire-deflation device was deployed, and even though it worked on the vehicle, the driver kept fleeing. It eventually came to a stop at 3rd Street and Gold Avenue. Two people fled on foot, and the driver was caught. Police identified him as Steven Robles, 19.

Police are waiting on a search warrant for the vehicle, but they claimed they saw an AR-15 and handgun in the front seat.

Robles was charged with aggravated fleeing of law enforcement and resisting/evading. He was taken to the Metro Detention Center.

Officials said last week, a 17-year-old was killed in a parking garage in Downtown.

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