APD: Four teens charged in shooting death of 5-year-old girl

Two teenage boys started fighting over a girl in middle school, and the feud simmered for years before escalating to a string of recent shootings, including a drive-by shooting that killed a 5-year-old girl earlier this month, according to Albuquerque police.

Police announced Monday four teenagers have been charged in connection with the death of Galilea Samaniego, 5, who was sleeping inside a mobile home in Southwest Albuquerque when she was shot in the head early Aug. 13, according to the Albuquerque Police Department.

Homicide detectives arrested 15-year-old Alexander Barraza on Thursday for an existing probation violation and then arrested Yahir Carballo, 15, on Friday afternoon, APD said. Police are still searching for brothers Jose Luis Ramirez, 17, and Alan Ramirez, 15. The four teenage suspects are charged with an open count of murder, conspiracy, shooting at a dwelling or occupied building, shooting at or from a motor vehicle and unlawful taking of a motor vehicle.

Through their investigation, detectives determined the teens were the occupants of two stolen Kia Souls seen entering the Vista Del Sol mobile home park around 5:48 a.m. Aug. 13. Gunshots were fired from at least one of the vehicles, according to APD, toward a trailer located at 2718 Paseo Del Canto Dr. NW.

An APD ShotSpotter alert indicated eight shots were fired at the time of the shooting, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Samaniego was sleeping with her two sisters in a bedroom on the west side of the trailer. Police said an initial officer on scene attempted life-saving measures, but Samaniego later died at a local hospital.

The homeowner, who lived with her teenage grandson, had been babysitting Samaniego, her two sisters and a fourth child when the shooting occurred.

The grandson and Jose Luis Ramirez had once been friends but got into a fight in middle school over a girl, and the feud dragged on for years, according to the complaint. It recently escalated and contributed to a string of recent shootings, many that are still under investigation, Gilbert Gallegos, a police spokesman, said in a news release.

“When we responded to the scene, we determined early on that a teenager who lived at that residence was the target of the shooting,” said Deputy Chief Cecily Barker. “We do not believe that the shooting was random.”

Second shooting minutes later

Four minutes after Samaniego was shot, a second drive-by shooting two miles away targeted a home on the 1800 block of Delgado SW. The homeowner, his wife and their 4-year-old son were not injured. A ShotSpotter alert indicated that around 25 shots were fired at the home.

It was the second drive-by shooting the family had experienced in recent weeks, Gallegos said.

A woman who lived at the residence said her stepsons had recently started hanging out with the teen police believe was the target of the shooting that killed the 5-year-old girl. She said since meeting him, they have been “up to no good.” She said the two brothers haven’t been allowed to stay at the residence on Delgado since the first drive-by shooting.

Investigators think the two groups of teenagers on both sides of the shootings have played at least some role in a series of recent violent crimes.

Police said in the news release that the Ramirez brothers have been involved in at least one additional shooting in the last year.

Bullet casings found in the recent investigation matched casings from a shooting in November 2022 that involved several teens, including the Ramirez brothers. No arrests were made in the case because the victim refused to cooperate, according to court documents.

The mobile home where Samaniego was killed was the site of a search warrant execution earlier this year. Barker said the warrant was in connection with another homicide investigation, and the grandson who was later targeted was interviewed as part of that investigation.

In that case, Jacob Lovato, 16, was arrested on suspicion of killing Gabriel Gurule, 17, on April 21. The criminal complaint against Lovato said that days after the homicide, SWAT was called to the trailer where Samaniego was killed.

The complaint against Lovato says detectives doing surveillance on Lovato watched him go to the residence and hand off a box to an unidentified person who was wearing gloves.

The gun described in the complaint against Lovato was a fully automatic handgun, which rapidly "sprayed" bullets across an apartment where Gurule was killed.

A neighbor of the home where Samaniego was shot recalled on the day of the shooting that Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives personnel searched the trailer weeks prior to the shooting. Barker thanked the federal agency for its assistance in the case at Monday's press conference.

“We believe that this is an ongoing dispute between teenagers and juveniles within our community,” Barker said.

Tracking the teens

Both the Kia Souls involved in the shooting were reported missing from different West Side apartment complexes the night before the shootings, police said.

One of the vehicles was located Aug. 14, one day after the shooting of the 5-year-old, at a West Side address after using GPS from the vehicle. Investigators discovered two bullet casings outside the windshield.

Residents living in the neighborhood where the vehicle was dumped told detectives they saw a red SUV pick up the boys who were in the Kia Soul.

Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office deputies found the second Kia a day earlier. The vehicle had been torched on the far end of the West Mesa.

Detectives learned through video surveillance that a red Dodge Nitro was the vehicle used to pick up the teens that were in the stolen Kia Souls, according to the news release. Police used law enforcement databases to track the Dodge Nitro to Barraza’s mother.

Barraza was subsequently interviewed by police and gave them additional information that was used to obtain warrants in the case. Investigators also found social media pages that connect the teenagers to each other.

Police efforts

At a news conference on Monday, police talked about ongoing efforts to try to address gun violence, especially violence committed by teenagers and young adults.

So far this year, seven such suspects, including the four accused in Samaniego’s death, have been named as suspects in homicide investigations. Last year, 14 minors were named homicide suspects.

Three juveniles have also been killed in homicides, according to police records.

Deputy Commander Jason Janopoulos, who oversees a violence intervention program, said the goal of the program is to make contact with people who are believed to be involved in gun violence and try to offer them alternatives or services, such as assistance finishing a GED.

He said police have a goal of increasing those individual contacts by 50% this year compared to last year. Police meet weekly to identify possible candidates for the interventions.

Many of the people that police try to reach are young, usually between the ages of 17 and 26. But sometimes younger juveniles are also contacted, he said.

Barker said that some of the young teenagers are associated with people on both sides of the dispute that led to young Samaniego’s death.

“What we need to try and do is re-convey to the public at large is that there are alternatives to (gun violence) and we have resources in which we can extend to you to help change your life and put it on a positive trajectory instead of a negative trajectory,” Janopoulos said. “Just delivering the messaging, it puts a lot of people on notice that the police department is aware that they’re involved in this type of activity, and it’s not going to be accepted.”