Albuquerque officers find tiger cub in home while investigating shooting – WHIO TV 7 and WHIO Radio

ALBUQUERQUE, NM — New Mexico police officers responding to a shooting in Albuquerque located a tiger inside a home, authorities said.

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According to a news release from the Albuquerque Police Department, officers were alerted to a shooting at about 2:15 pm MST on Tuesday outside a convenience store.

Officers arrived at the business and found a person with a gunshot wound on the leg, KRQE-TV reported. After heading another gunshot at a nearby mobile home, officers found Kevin Gerardo Vargas Mercado outside armed with a semiautomatic handgun with an extended magazine, police said in the news release.

Mercado was taken into custody without incident, and officers began to follow a trail of blood to a trailer in the area, KOAT-TV reported. Upon entering the unlocked trailer, police found a Bengal tiger cub inside a dog crate, police said.

Police obtained a search warrant in order to remove the animal, police said. The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish was contacted and took custody of the tiger, who was not injured, KRQE reported.

No other people were found inside the trailer, police said.

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