Police in New Mexico arrest 11-year-old boy for months-long crime spree

Police in Albuquerque, New Mexico, have arrested an 11-year-old boy on suspicion of committing a series of violent crimes over the course of a month, including car break-ins and shootings.

Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said in a social media post that it was “disappointing to see an 11-year-old arrested” for crimes ranging “from burglary to firing a firearm.”

“But this armed individual’s behavior escalated and he was a danger to the community,” he said in the post.

A statement on Friday said the boy was arrested late Thursday.

Medina said in the statement that he was “grateful that we were able to arrest this young suspect without our officers having to use force.”

“Despite his age, this suspect is considered very dangerous due to his use of firearms and escalating violence,” the police chief said.

It was not immediately clear whether the boy had a lawyer.

The boy was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy, shooting at or from a motor vehicle, shooting into an inhabited structure, aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon by a minor, burglary of a non-residential structure, property damage over $1,000 and conspiracy to commit a fourth-degree felony.

Police also released a timeline of the alleged crimes in which the eleven-year-old is said to have been involved.

Police said a car was stolen in the northeast part of the city on May 5 and recovered an hour later. On May 12, a woman reported that four children were “throwing rocks at the house and trying to break the windows of the house,” and the woman was hit in the leg, the police department statement said.

That same day, a 12-year-old called police to report that a group of boys were throwing rocks at her house. The caller was able to identify some of the boys in the group and said they were known as the “Kia Boys” and were frequent residents of the area, police said.

Albuquerque police said they were called to a burglary at a commercial building where a person was observed backing up his car and crashing into the security door at the front door of a business.

The theft and damage totaled over $15,000, and the car was later identified as a stolen vehicle, police said.

On May 29, a man called 911 and said he had been shot by four boys in a blue Kia after seeing the unidentified car outside his home. He told the boys to leave, and they returned shortly afterward and shot him, police said. A 9mm cartridge was found in the caller’s home.

A few days later, on June 1, police were contacted about a shooting. A man was said to have been shot in the hand and a 9mm pistol was recovered at the scene, police said.

“Through information from several witnesses, statements from victims and surveillance videos, investigators were able to identify the youth and obtain an arrest warrant,” the police statement said.