Neighbors at an townhome complex near 33rd Street and Avenue V told EverythingLubbock.com they heard gunshots and screaming in the early hours of Friday morning. The commotion was a result of an incident where, Lubbock Police said, a group of seven people participated in the kidnapping of a man who they kept in a closet for around three hours. Lubbock Police said those seven people were burglarized by armed individuals that same morning.
“I don’t know what kind of people these are, but there’s trouble here and I just don’t want it,” said Dora Bueno, who lives nearby to the home where the kidnapping and burglary happened.
She said she doesn’t really know who lives in the house where those crimes occurred, because she sees so many different people going into and out of the home. Previously, she’d brushed aside worries about the people who lived there, but after Friday’s incident she is very concerned.
“We heard yelling, ‘I’m sorry! I’m sorry!’ and then there was another loud bang and it got pretty quiet,” Bueno recalled of that morning. “I looked out the window and there were two males– pretty stocky–one was in a red shirt, one in a black shirt, the [one in a red shirt] had a white mask on and a shotgun in his left hand and they were just taking off. They made a right [down the street] and that was it , it was quiet.”
Shortly after, she said that the police arrived to check out the gunshots. She was surprised when the police brought a man outside who said he had been trapped in a closet for hours.
The police report said that seven people were involved in kidnapping that man over a check he had yet to cash. The kidnappers reportedly took turns watching the man in the closet for three hours.
Then, police said, it appears four additional suspects came to the apartment with ski masks and guns, asking for money. At least one of those armed suspects began shooting in the apartment.
“I was sitting here thinking like, oh my gosh, because they shot the TV and the TV is on the other side of the wall, so if it would have turned the other way because my kids like to sleep downstairs,” Bueno said, shaking to think about what could have happened to her kids.
When police arrived at the scene, they checked through the house and found the man in the closet. They arrested the seven people believed to be involved with the kidnapping.
Bueno said this incident has made her think it may be time to move away from that complex.
“I understand we’re going to have problems wherever we go, but I don’t think we’re ever going to have problems as big as we’ve had here, not like this,” she said.
