Last week a Pokemon Go player in Albuquerque, New Mexico was shot and killed at a park near her apartment after witnessing an armed robbery.
Twenty-one year old Cayla Campos was playing Pokemon GO! with her boyfriend Sidney near Bianchetti Park just before midnight, near her apartment when the shooting took place.
According to a local report by KRQE, the pair witnessed two unknown people in the process of attempting to rob another motorist. When they attempted to leave the scene the suspects opened fire on their car. Campos was hit in the back of the head. After being shot, her car would crash into a home.
October 21 Morning Rush: Police investigate shooting death of witness to suspected armed robbery https://t.co/V4Tc561njP #abq #albuquerque
— KRQE News 13 (@krqe) October 21, 2019
When police arrived on the scene, they discovered Campos inside the car. She would be transported to University of New Mexico Hospital, but would die from her injuries.
A neighbor, Mary Light, who lived a few doors down provided police with surveillance footage which showed what they believed to be Campos’s car moments before it crashed.
She told KRQE, “We saw on the cameras the car driving through the park right in front of the house.” Light added, “Even in a nice, quiet family neighborhood like this, there will be dangers and violence happening all the time. It’s scary.”
Another neighbor, Doug Brown told KRQE, “I heard some clanging or banging and I didn’t know what it was at first. We didn’t realize how serious it was until the police and fire showed up and the lights were flashing.”
Speaking to KRQE, Campos’s friend Cody Bell spoke with the local station detailing that Campos and her boyfriend typically played Pokemon GO before heading home, “Her and her boyfriend always make a loop around this park before they go home and play Pokemon Go because their apartment is literally right there.”
He would add, “She has helped me through everything, and she has always been there. Now, she is gone.”
While holding back tears he continued, “I am really trying hard not to break down right now. I feel like there is a piece of me that is missing now.”
He added, “Just knowing that I am never going to see her again or talk to her… I am just sorry that her life was taken away so soon.”
Albuquerque PD has yet to identify the suspects involved in the shooting and are asking people with any information to contact them at 505-242-2677. According to the police, they’re looking for a silver four-door sedan as well as a red car, possibly a Ford Mustang, in connection with both the robbery and the shooting.
Bell detailed that Campos wanted to become a dentist. The family requested privacy during this time.