Alleged Uber driver killer federally charged, could face death penalty

A man accused of gunning down an Uber driver in August was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday.

Sheliky Sanchez, 18, of Albuquerque, is charged with carjacking resulting in death, using a firearm during a violence crime and causing death by firing it, and kidnapping resulting in death in the Aug. 7 fatal shooting of 30-year-old Joseph Andrus.

Sanchez will remain in custody while awaiting trial, which has not been scheduled. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison or the death penalty, U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson Tessa DuBerry said in a news release Tuesday.

Albuquerque Police Department spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said the feds asked to take the case, and the District Attorney’s Office agreed.

“The penalties are much higher,” he said.

Andrus’ mother, Allison Green, said she’s “very grateful for the support” from all the law enforcement involved.

“I just trust that the legal process will play out in the way it’s supposed to,” Green said in a photo interview.

On Aug. 7, the Albuquerque Police Department responded to an alert from a gunshot detective device in the 400 block of Merlida SW, near Central, where they found Andrus’ body, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Detectives learned Andrus, an Uber driver, received a ride request from a woman identified as Sanchez’s girlfriend, police said.

Sanchez told police he requested the ride to a random address “so he could meet a friend of his to pick up a car,” according to the complaint.

Sanchez told police before the car pulled up, he “cocked his gun to make sure it was loaded because if the Uber driver tried to pull something, he would have the first shot off,” the complaint states.

During a pretrial detention hearing in August, the Journal reported, prosecutors played a portion of Sanchez’s police interview, in which he said after they arrived at the destination, he ordered Andrus to get out of his 2022 Ford Escape. But the driver was moving “way too slow,” according to the recording.

“He just did not want to move,” Sanchez told police in the video. “And once I actually ended up moving and went to go get out, I just, I just shot him.”

Sanchez told police he shot Andrus “to let off some steam” because he was stressed, according to the complaint.

‘Just be kind to each other again’

Andrus was “funny, smart (and) full of joy,” Green said.

According to an online obituary, Andrus gradated from New Mexico State University with a bachelor’s degree in information communication technology. At the time of his death, he was driving Uber to help fund his new company, ByteSpire, a cybersecurity training platform that “replaces forgettable slideshows with interactive, (role-playing game)-style scenarios where employees actually learn by doing,” he wrote on his LinkedIn page.

“A month before we lost him,” the obituary states, “Joe was bringing a vision to life that would change the way the IT world thinks of cybersecurity training — something that wouldn’t be a ‘check the box’ training that didn’t change behaviors.”

With his death and “everything that is happening in the world,” Green said, “we need to just be kind to each other again.”

“(Would that have) changed what happened to Joe? I don’t know,” she said. “Will it help another family? I think it will.”