Good Guy with a Gun #142: Albuquerque, NM
Sometimes the Good Guy with a Gun is a terrified grandmother whose door was just kicked in. | Original incident: March 22, 2024
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So often, we have very little detail about an incident. This story, though, includes Ring camera footage, a 911 call, and interviews with the victim. Let’s get to it.
It was an ordinary Thursday evening in Albuquerque’s North Valley. Anissa Tinnin was at home with her four-year-old granddaughter, music up a little loud, dancing and singing along to the Taylor Swift movie.
Down the street, things were less ordinary. Albuquerque police had spotted Joseph Rivera, 32, in a stolen car near Candelaria and Rio Grande. Spike strips blew his tires. He crashed, fled on foot down Candelaria, hopped a fence into Tinnin’s yard, and let himself in through a side door. The family’s Ring camera caught every move.
Tinnin turned around and saw his silhouette, bent over, picking something up.
“I jumped over this couch and we met there by the front door... That’s when he grabbed me and was upset and said to give him my keys. He said he didn’t want to go to jail. He did threaten to hurt my granddaughter and me.”
She tried to calm him. She put her hands on him, asked his name, asked where he was from. And somewhere in those first moments, she found a way to dial 911 without him seeing.
They ended up in the kitchen, where she pointed him toward the bowl of keys on the counter while her granddaughter stayed nearby. “I told him to not hurt us, that I would do whatever he wanted. I would give him keys, money, whatever it took.”
Rivera grabbed a key fob and ran out to try her car.
The 911 call captures what came next:
Tinnin (crying): “This guy came into my house and tried to take my car. Please help me.”
She moved her granddaughter to the bedroom.
Tinnin: “I need you to be really brave right now. I got to go. Stay right here in the bedroom.”
Girl (crying): ...
Tinnin: “It’s okay baby. It’s okay. It’s okay.”
She grabbed her gun.
The car didn’t start. Sirens could be heard in the distance as police closed in — but Rivera didn’t wait. He came back to the door. Then he kicked it in.
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