Copyright © 2020 Albuquerque Journal
As he lay dying outside a West Side apartment building in September, 17-year-old Noah Tafoya told his parents that a man named Trey “burned” him, according to police.
Detectives say the person Tafoya was talking about is 21-year-old Everton “Trey” McNab, who reportedly planned to rob Tafoya during a gun buy and ultimately shot him. A second person, Matthew Wood, who rode with McNab to the meet-up, has also been charged in Tafoya’s death.
McNab, Wood and a third man were critically wounded in a shootout that unfolded in the Rio Volcan Apartments parking lot that night. Tafoya died of his wounds.
“Something went sideways for a lot of people,” said state District Judge Charles Brown as he considered whether Wood should be detained pending trial.
Brown ultimately released Wood, citing his lack of criminal history and saying that it was clear from a recently unsealed criminal complaint that Wood was present, but it was not clear whether he played a role in the robbery.
“It circumstantially looks like there was a robbery,” Brown said. “You have the victim’s jewelry taken off and laying in the seat, that’s a little bit unusual. But, again, there’s no real connection with this defendant to that action.”
McNab’s detention hearing has been reset twice and is scheduled to take place Friday morning.
According to a complaint, McNab had been telling people he was planning to rob someone of a gun. Tafoya was selling one and he arranged a meet up at the apartment complex on Ladera where he lived with his parents. Wood accompanied McNab and, when they arrived, he got out of the car and another man got in.
A fourth man, Jorden Chavez, went with Tafoya to the buy. He stayed in his own vehicle as Tafoya got into another car and spoke with a man matching McNab’s description. He told police he saw Tafoya holding his hands up. He also said he opened fire after a man matching Wood’s description walked up to his car and threatened him with a knife, the complaint states.
Wood, on the other hand, says he pulled out a knife when he heard McNab screaming, and was shot as he approached a nearby car.
Wood said he and McNab then drove to Presbyterian Hospital near Downtown.
Chavez drove himself to a nearby Walmart, where police were called.
Tafoya’s mother and stepfather had “gone to his side after they were alerted to the shooting in the parking lot area by a neighbor.”
Before an ambulance arrived, Tafoya told them that “some black guy named Trey burned me” and they later clarified that he may have said robbed rather than burned.
Tafoya died before the ambulance made it to the hospital. Police said they found two Glock .40-caliber handguns, multiple .40-caliber casings, a knife and three pieces of Tafoya’s jewelry in Wood’s car, which he and McNab drove to the meeting.
