Surveillance video shows NM SWAT clear hostages, capture suspect

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A hostage situation ended with a bang-literally, as a New Mexico SWAT team sent in explosives and took down a suspect holding up a restaurant last October.

The newly released surveillance video shows SWAT team members moving out hostages before locating the suspect and taking him into custody, KOAT reports.

The suspect, identified as Joe Pacheco Romero, walks in just like any customer before holding up the establishment for almost an hour.

In the video you can see customers calmly eating lunch. Unbeknownst to them, Romero was up front at the register, sitting down and counting money.

Officers then arrived and were able to remove most of the hostages before SWAT entered the restaurant to capture Romero.

Eventually, Romero was taken outside where he was treated by SWAT team medics and taken away in an ambulance.