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Wednesday, June 24, 2009
APD: Denny's Cook Chased Down, Shot
By Jeff Proctor
Journal Staff Writer
There had been conflicting accounts about how Stephanie Anderson was shot and killed during a strong-arm robbery at Denny's this past weekend.
Police Chief Ray Schultz moved to clear up the confusion on Tuesday. He said the 34-year-old cook was chased down and shot with a revolver as she ran from the robbers.
Witness accounts of the circumstances surrounding Anderson's death during the armed siege Saturday had varied widely. Some accounts had suggested the gun might have gone off accidentally.
Police spent three-plus painstaking days trying to piece the incident together.
"She was running away from (the gunmen), and they were chasing her," Schultz told the Journal on Tuesday. "We know that Ms. Anderson was shot with a revolver, and those are not prone to being discharged accidentally. So you can come to only one conclusion."
It's not yet clear how many times Anderson was shot.
Detectives are working to determine which of the suspects actually pulled the trigger: Pablo Ortiz, 32, Marvin Lopez-Aguilar, 22, Francisco Melgar, 25, or a possible fourth, unidentified man.
Ortiz and Lopez-Aguilar are being held without bond at the Metropolitan Detention Center on murder and other charges. Melgar, who faces the same charges, is still at large, and authorities believe a fourth suspect may have been involved.
"We're still trying to put the firearm in the offender's hands," the chief said. "That will be done through forensics: fingerprints and DNA. But they all went in there with the purpose of committing an armed robbery. They went in there with the purpose of using firearms. Ultimately, they're all responsible."
Chris Duran, a former firefighter and emergency medical technician for Santa Fe County, told KOAT Channel 7 that he was inside the restaurant at the time of the shooting.
Shortly after the gunmen walked in, he called 911, Duran told KOAT. The next thing he heard was a gunshot.
"When they first walked in, they initially fired a warning shot into the ceiling," he told the station. "Then they told everybody, 'OK, get down.' "
Duran told the station that the armed robbers demanded money from the cash register. He heard another gunshot moments later.
Once the gunmen fled, Duran said he ran back to the kitchen, where he saw Anderson.
"When I first seen her, she was just slumped over, trying to breathe," he told KOAT, adding that she had a gunshot wound right below her shoulder blade.
He told the station he checked her pulse and turned her on her side.
"Her mouth was covered in blood and stuff, so I tried to clear her airway," Duran said. Then "she just stopped breathing," he told the station.
Police say Melgar and Ortiz are Salvadoran gang members. It is unclear whether Lopez-Aguilar is part of the MS-13 gang, but police said all three are part of a group responsible for eight other armed robberies in the city since May 16. Among them was an incident in which the manager of the same Denny's where Saturday's incident took place was robbed at an area bank.
In each case, the robbers used guns and took cash.
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