By Jim Snyder
The Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Albuquerque police charged into a West Side home Tuesday afternoon and rescued a 1-year-old child while a man, brandishing a gun and running from police, was on a nearby flat rooftop.
After police told him to drop his weapon, the man shot himself in the chest and later died, police spokesman John Walsh said.
The emergency evacuation and the shooting occurred almost at the same time, he said.
More than 20 police and tactical team members had surrounded the neighborhood in the 200 block of Yucca NW near Central and Coors avenues in an attempt to locate the man, who was running through people’s backyards.
The child’s mother had run out of her home to tell police her child was inside, Walsh said.
A second man and a woman are in custody.
Police had responded to a 2 p.m. call of an armed robbery by the three individuals against a person near a Rapid Ride bus stop on Central.
A short time later, police located the three in a car. An officer pulled over the car, and the gunman fled on foot, Walsh said. Other officers were able to locate and arrest the two in the car, he said.
The shooting occurred about an hour after the initial call.
The names of the three have not yet been released.
Police are still investigating the incident.
Copyright 2007 Albuquerque Journal