Saturday, October 31, 2009

Suspect Sought in Fatal Shooting

By Jeff Proctor
Journal Staff Writer
          A drive-by shooting in the South Valley on Thursday that left a 19-year-old dead appears to have been gang-related.
        Two teens are in custody, one of them on an open count of murder charge, and authorities are still looking for 17-year-old Roberto Gonzales in connection with the shooting.
        Gonzales and three other teenage males drove down the 2000 block of Cordelia SW in a white Toyota shortly before 3 p.m., according to a criminal complaint. Four other teenage males, including 19-year-old John Valenzuela, were tossing a football in the street.
        Gonzales said the four guys in the street were "haters," the complaint reads.
        "Let's get it," Gonzales said, according to the complaint.
        A few moments later, Valenzuela had been shot three times, authorities said. He ran into his family's home on Cordelia, and they called 911. Valenzuela was rushed to University of New Mexico Hospital, where he later died.
        "Detectives believe it's very possible the two groups knew each other," Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Erin Kinnard Thompson said.
        A sheriff's detective who was in the area around the time of the shooting saw the white Toyota near Coors and Arenal SW and followed it to the West Gate area, the complaint reads. When the vehicle stopped, four males exited and ran in opposite directions.
        Deputies arrested Lorenzo Velarde, 17, after a short foot chase and charged him with an open count of murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, child abuse, shooting from a motor vehicle, conspiracy, accessory and aggravated fleeing from a law enforcement officer. His bond has been set at $500,000 cash or surety.
        Louie Velarde, 16, was also arrested after deputies found him hiding in some bushes in the West Gate area. He has been charged with resisting arrest and aggravated fleeing from a law enforcement officer.
        The Velardes were being held at the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center. It was unclear what Louie Velarde's bond was.
        A third male was questioned and released, Kinnard Thompson said.
        At the scene of the shooting on Cordelia SW, deputies found eight 9 mm Winchester bullet casings, according to the complaint.
        During a search of Gonzales' home Thursday evening, deputies found a box of 9 mm Winchester ammunition, the complaint reads.
        Anyone with information concerning Gonzales' whereabouts is asked to contact the sheriff's office at 980-2496.
       

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