Albuquerque Police are investigating the shooting death of a 20-year-old man whose body was discovered in a west University residential area near Copper Avenue and Cedar Street N.E. on Tuesday evening.
According to APD spokeswoman Nadine Hamby, officers prounced Miguel Barragan dead on the scene after they found the body in the alleyway north of Presbyterian Hospital around 9:30 p.m.
The body had multiple gunshot wounds and appeared to have been dropped off in the area, away from the location of the actual crime, Hamby said.
At the scene, APD’s Mobile Crime Unit held four male witnesses in custody.They were each let go and are not considered suspects, Hamby said.
Barragan has no immediate family in Albuquerque and it is unclear what he was doing in the city, she said.
A resident in the area first reported the body to APD as an unconscious individual. Officers tried to resuscitate Barragan before he was pronounced dead, according to Hamby.
This is the most aggressive crime reported this year in the residential area five blocks west of University Blvd. Typically, most criminal activity occurs across the street near the Presbyterian Hospital, according to the APD crime blotter.
In 2010, 65 crimes have been reported there, according to APD. However, only three crimes have been reported on the block where the body was found, indicating that crime rarely crosses over to the residential area.
Trish Montoya lives across the street from where Barragan’s body was found and she agrees this was an isolated incident.
“I’ve only seen one other violent thing around the area,” she said. “A couple of months ago some one started a car on fire and it exploded, but again that seemed like a random act of violence.”
At this point, APD has no suspects in custody involved in Barragan’s death and the case remains active, Hamby said.
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