Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Albuquerque police department officers found a young tiger inside a southeast Albuquerque home. The units were responding to a home shooting.
The police learned of shots being fired on Indiana Street SE on Tuesday afternoon. Before arriving, officers were alerted of a person shot in the leg near the area.
Preliminary evidence shows that the injured person was struck by a stray bullet.
Officers heard another gunshot while on scene coming from a nearby mobile home.
They eventually located Kevin Gerardo and Vargas Mercado, who were armed with a handgun, according to the Albuquerque police department. It was not specified who was in possession of the handgun. Mercado was taken into custody without issue.
Albuquerque police department officers then followed a blood trail that led them inside a trailer. They never were able to locate that injured person, according to the department.
Inside the trailer home, a Bengal tiger cub was found inside a dog crate. New Mexico Department of Game and Fish took custody of the tiger.
The gun violence reduction unit has taken over the investigation.
