New Chilling Details But Questions Remain

The Calvary Chapel is located on Osuna near Jefferson. Greg Griego, who was killed Saturday, worked for several years as a pastor at Calvary, until last year. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Journal)

Report: Teen Sent Photo of Dead Mother to Girlfriend

UPDATE: From the morning news conference by BCSO, “Teen Shooting Suspect Had Contemplated Killings For ‘At Least A Week’”

Also from A1: “Who is Nehemiah?”

Authorities are looking into whether Pastor Greg Griego had a criminal past — as friends and colleagues have said — and, if so, whether he was prohibited from owning the assault-style rifle and other guns his son allegedly used to kill him and four other family members.

Charging documents obtained by the Journal on Monday lay out the five counts of first-degree murder and three counts of child abuse resulting in death against Griego’s son, Nehemiah Griego, in connection with the weekend shootings in the family’s South Valley home.

Because Nehemiah Griego is 15, if he is indicted on first-degree murder charges he will be classified as a serious youthful offender under the state’s children’s code and will face adult penalties.

The charging documents provide chilling new details in a case that has rocked New Mexico.

Each of Nehemiah’s alleged victims was shot in the head early Saturday with guns owned by his parents, according to a probable cause statement written by Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputies. The victims are Greg Griego; mother, Sarah Griego; 9-year-old brother, Zephania; and sisters Jael, 5, and Angelina, 2

The statement said that at some point after the killings, Nehemiah took a picture of his dead mother and sent it to his girlfriend. He drove the family’s van, loaded guns inside, to meet her at Calvary Chapel on Osuna NE near Jefferson, where his father had worked as a pastor.

He spent the next 12 hours at Calvary talking to a number of people, including his girlfriend, her grandmother, a pastor and a church security guard. He explained that his family had been killed in a car crash, but he told at least one of those people that their bodies were inside the family home.

Greg Greigo

When the security guard drove Nehemiah back to the family’s home, he saw the body of Greg Griego and called authorities.

Nehemiah initially told investigators he had been at a friend’s house all weekend and arrived home around 5:30 a.m. Saturday to find his family dead, according to the statement.

But when deputies told him they had seen the bodies, with gunshot wounds to the head, the teen confessed, the document said.

The teen made the early morning trip to Calvary Chapel instead of following through on a plan to kill several more people in a populated place and then be killed himself by police, the statement said.

Although Greg Griego had 10 kids, those who were killed and Nehemiah were the only ones who still lived at home, said Rick Zemke, who volunteered with Greg Griego as a chaplain and also attended Calvary.

Hows and whys

Greg Griego often told people he was an ex-con or had a felony in his past, possibly in California.

If that’s true, he would have been allowed to own guns if 10 years had passed since his sentence and probation had ended. Otherwise, state and federal law would have prohibited him from possessing or owning the guns used in the killings — an AR-15 assault-type rifle and a .22 caliber rifle.

He still may have been able to purchase a gun in New Mexico, one of 36 states that doesn’t require background checks for people buying firearms at gun shows or from private sellers.

Closing the gun-show loophole is among the proposals President Barack Obama offered last week as a way to get a handle on gun violence nationally. There’s also a measure being considered by the New Mexico Legislature that would close the loophole at the state level.

The gun question is one of many Bernalillo County Sheriff’s detectives are tackling as they try to answer the hows and whys of the killings.

Another aspect of their investigation is processing evidence from the Griegos’ home on the 2800 block of Long Lane SW. That includes ballistics, criminalistics and other physical evidence — no small task considering Nehemiah’s mother, brother and sisters were shot in bed and Greg Griego was shot in the living room.

Detectives also are processing the cellphones of Nehemiah and his girlfriend. There is no indication that anyone either helped in the killings or had prior knowledge of the tragedy authorities believe played out early Saturday.

According to his confession, Nehemiah waited for his mother to go to sleep, then went into her room and shot her with the .22 caliber rifle. His younger brother was in the same bed and became upset, so Nehemiah shot him in the head, too, the documents said. He then went into the next room and shot his two sisters, also in the head. It was unclear from the document how many times each victim was shot.

Nehemiah then waited for five hours in a downstairs bathroom for his father to come home. When Greg Griego walked into the house, his son ambushed him, shooting him multiple times with the AR-15, the statement said.

Some controversy

Greg Griego had been a controversial figure. He worked for several years as a pastor at Calvary Chapel until last year, as well as a volunteer pastor for the Albuquerque Fire Department during the past five years.

He also helped found the “God Pod” at the Metropolitan Detention Center, where he worked as a volunteer spiritual counselor for 13 years. The Christian-based unit at the massive lockup was a source of controversy until county officials shut it down last year after determining it violated the religious freedoms of other inmates.

Many who knew Griego, including friends and others in the Christian community, say he was able to connect with inmates, particularly those who struggled with addiction and violence, because he had been there himself.

“Greg never felt like anybody was too far gone to be turned around,” said Steve Stucker, a weatherman at KOB-TV who also served as a chaplain to the jail ministry. “He’d seen it happen in himself and felt comfortable in honestly sharing his past struggles with those who were struggling now as proof positive that a relationship with Jesus can change your life. Greg was really driven to do this. He was constantly thinking about it, talking about it. And most importantly, he got out there and did it.”

Griego, who had a military past, also worked with returning veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq.

News of the killings reverberated in Santa Fe, where state lawmakers took time out during the early days of the 60-day legislative session to observe a moment of silence. Several legislators noted that Greg Griego was the brother of former state Sen. Eric Griego.

And U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., offered condolences to the Griego family for what she called a “senseless, tragic act.”

Journal staff writers Deborah Ziff and Dan Boyd contributed to this report.

— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal