Three teenage boys are accused of opening fire into a crowd — killing a 15-year-old partygoer — outside a Halloween gathering last year in Southwest Albuquerque.
Isaiah Cruz, 17, Gustavo Guerrero, 16, and Omar Castillo, 16, are each charged with an open count of murder, shooting at or from a vehicle and negligent use of a deadly weapon in the Oct. 30, 2022, death of Gibran Gomez-Martinez.
Cruz was arrested by Bernalillo police and, on Thursday, a juvenile court judge ordered him released pending trial with an ankle monitor.
Guerrero and Castillo are still on the loose.
In an obituary posted online for Gomez-Martinez, relatives described him as “a loving child” who had many friends and “did not know evil.”
“He was a child who earned the affection of all the people who knew him, my son, we are going to miss you very much, we love you and we will love you forever,” according to the obituary.
Police responded around midnight to a shooting in the 750 block of Old Coors SW and found people fleeing a Halloween party inside the Gorilla Recycling center, according to a statement of probable cause filed in Children’s Court. Police found Gomez’s body in the parking lot, a clown mask he wore was nearby.
Gomez had been fatally shot and then run over by another person fleeing the gunfire. Officers found 9mm and other casings in the area and witnesses told police several teens got out of a pickup truck before opening fire.
Guerrero called authorities the next morning and told them he had been a witness to the shooting. Guerrero said he, Castillo and Cruz took his brother’s truck to the party after Castillo’s “baby mama” said she was threatened with a gun.
Guerrero told police when they got to the party Castillo shot a rifle at the building and a crowd of people outside. Police located the truck and found a rifle inside along with a 9mm casing that matched those found outside the party.
A teenaged girl told police she was with the group and that Guerrero, Castillo and Cruz were all armed with guns. She said all three got out of the truck at the party and she heard gunfire and saw Guerrero firing a handgun.
Police said the trio’s phones placed them outside the party when the shooting occurred and found photos and videos of Guerrero and Cruz holding the rifle found in the truck.
