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‘It was pretty traumatic’: Albuquerque family recalls home invader wanted for kidnapping women

By Stella Sun

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    ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (KOAT) — An Albuquerque family faced a home invader at gunpoint who was in the middle of what turned out to be an hourslong crime spree.

The Albuquerque Police Department said a man kidnapped three people, broke into several buildings, stole vehicles and shot at people — all in one night.

The string of crimes started Sunday night around 11:20 p.m. and ended sometime after 3:20 a.m. when law enforcement officers lost sight of the driver during a pursuit where he was driving the wrong way on Interstate 40.

One of the homes the man broke into was along the 7500 block of Willow Run Drive Northeast around 1:30 a.m. Homeowners Hope and Lamoni Sam said the man broke in through their front door, which had a security chain and a deadbolt. A footprint from where the door was kicked was visible.

“Our whole house shook, and there was s tremendous crash, and our house alarm went off,” Hope said.

“[I] grabbed my firearm and yelled and let them know that I was armed — that we were armed — and then he then took a shot in our home,” husband Lamoni Sam said. “… when I barricaded my family in a safe place and remained there until APD arrived.”

The man, who took the Sam family’s white Honda, was already gone by the time police said they arrived. However, there they found a person who was kidnapped from her home on Elm Street and Thaxton Avenue Southeast around midnight.

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Article Topic Follows: CNN - Regional

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