Police arrest 2nd man in fatal shooting outside International District smoke shop

The Albuquerque Police Department recently arrested a second suspect in connection with a June fatal shooting in the International District.

Salvador Gutierrez, 35, of Albuquerque — who was arrested Friday — is charged with an open count of murder, shooting at or from a vehicle, tampering with evidence, being a felon in possession of a firearm and conspiracy.

Deluvino Salazar, 41, was arrested earlier this month and is charged with an open count of murder, shooting at or from a vehicle, tampering with evidence and conspiracy.

Gutierrez’s detention hearing is scheduled for Friday, while Salazar is out on pretrial release, according to court records.

New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender spokeswoman Maggie Shepard said Wednesday that Gutierrez has not been assigned an attorney.

Court records state that in September, Gutierrez pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary with a deadly weapon after breaking into a home and shooting at a man.

According to a criminal complaint filed at Metropolitan Court, at about 9:30 p.m. on June 9, Albuquerque police responded to a homicide call in the 8300 block of Central, near Utah. When officers arrived, they found a man with “at least one gunshot wound” in the parking lot. The man — later identified as Samuel Chavez-Aquiar, 40 — was taken to a hospital, where he died.

Police said Salazar told them he took a passenger — later identified as Gutierrez — to a smoke shop, where Chavez-Aquiar gave them “dirty looks.”

The complaint states that Salazar told police that Chavez-Aquiar pulled out a firearm and as Salazar drove away the passenger fired a shot.

Police said jail call records showed Salazar telling his girlfriend that the passenger was his “homeboy.” According to the complaint, the records also showed Salazar telling his girlfriend, “I didn’t drop no dime on a (expletive).”

“To which she states that he (Gutierrez) knew,” police said.

Salazar’s attorney Deirdre Ewing said in an email that “while the State saw fit to discuss these recorded calls in court, as they called for my client to be detained without bond, they have yet to see fit to provide those recordings to me.

“Unfortunately, I cannot comment on what I haven’t been given.”

On July 10, police said, the girlfriend told them she saw Gutierrez and told him about Salazar’s arrest. The complaint states she told police she advised Gutierrez to turn himself in. She also told police that Gutierrez said, “If they come to get me, I’m gonna shoot every cop that I can so that they can kill me.”