‘They’re on the rise’: Albuquerque four-person murder-suicide makes August deadliest month so far

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A shooting in the North Valley left four people dead Saturday night at the Valley Apartments on Indian School north of I-40. Police are calling it a murder-suicide.

Numbers from the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) show that August was the deadliest month to date in 2024 for the metro, with 17 homicides taking place. Those murders make up about a quarter of all killings for the year so far.

“Reports of shots fired and multiple people being shot and people fleeing the area,” said Albuquerque police Commander Kyle Hartsock. “When officers got there, they did find what looks to be four people shot and killed [at] the apartment complex.”

Police said there were four adults killed; one was a father, another was a son, and the last was a female acquaintance.

Officials claimed the son, who was in his 20s, had been arguing with the shooter earlier that day. According to police, someone had called his parents to pick him up, but the confrontation continued in the parking lot of the apartment complex after the parents showed up.

“The shooter pulled a gun out, murdered him, and killed the other two people that were in that same car, or coming out of the same car,” said Commander Hartsock.

After murdering the three adults, the shooter turned the gun on himself, they stated.

According to police, it’s unclear what the motive for the shooting was, and that the shooter did not have a criminal history. Police said they’re working to contact immediate family members at this time and have not released any names.

“Murder-suicides are actually pretty rare out here. In other cities, we visited the Las Vegas metro a few years ago, they were much more common, but they’re on the rise out here .”

According to reports, August has been the most violent month for the metro this year . Homicides were down in July, with three being reported. However, that number skyrocketed to 17 in August, making up nearly a quarter of all killings this year.

Police have increased resources throughout the city to prevent homicides and overall crime, such as ramping up patrols in the Downtown area, as well as busses and bus stops along Central. However, they say preventative measures aren’t always successful in deterring crime.

“We work with ACS, who goes out to the community after homicide events to work with the neighbors and anyone else that wants input or wants to know better what happened, so we can try to heal these communities and heal these families as best we can after these incidents occur,” Commander Hartsock explained.

Originally, a person was detained, but officers determined they weren’t involved in the shooting. Homicide detectives are working on the case.

**Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly listed the location as the northeast part of Albuquerque. This has been corrected.**

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