Police: Man stabbed to death by 19-year-old on city bus off West Central

Police say a young man fatally stabbed someone on an Albuquerque bus before showing up to his high school in bloody clothing, saying he had been in a fight.

Charles Madrid, 19, a senior at Mark Armijo Academy Charter School, was arrested by police sometime after school staff gave him a ride to a home in Southeast Albuquerque.

Madrid has been charged with an open count of murder and tampering with evidence in the death of a 44-year-old man. The victim is not being identified because his family has not been notified of his death.

Surveillance video showed Madrid exchange words with the man before stabbing him in the neck, leaving him dead in a pool of blood on the floor of the bus, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Shawn Morris, executive director at Mark Armijo Academy, said he had known Madrid since he was in seventh grade.

“In truth, he wasn’t a bad kid,” he said. “I think he was a kid that had lived a rough life.”

Despite the issues Madrid had faced, he was getting good grades and was on track to graduate this semester. Morris added, “He knew he wanted to do some other things in life, and he was on that right track.”

“I don’t know exactly what went down on the bus, so I don’t want to speculate there,” he said.

Albuquerque police responded around 8:50 a.m. to the stabbing on an ABQ Ride bus after the driver pulled over at Central and Coors NW. Officers found a man stabbed in the neck on the bus, and he was pronounced dead.

Security video from the bus showed the man had gotten on the bus around 8 a.m. at Central and San Mateo and the suspect — later identified as Madrid — got on at the Nob Hill Albuquerque Rapid Transit station, the complaint states. A dispute broke out between the man and two other riders as Madrid sat close by.

Police said Madrid stood up and approached the three men, who then all sat down. Madrid and the man “briefly begin to exchange words” before the man stood up and Madrid thrust his hand at the man’s neck.

Madrid and the man, who was already bleeding, grappled for a moment as the knife was visible in Madrid’s hand, according to the complaint. The man fell to the ground and Madrid kicked him, picked up his backpack and got off the bus.

Police said staff from Mark Armijo Academy called 911 around 11:30 a.m. to say a student, Madrid, showed up more than an hour earlier with “blood on him” and told them he got into a fight at the bus stop, less than a mile from the school on Gonzales SW, near Coors.

Staff told police Madrid said he was “trying to defend himself” in the fight and that the other man was much larger and he “did not believe his punches would do anything,” the complaint states. An hour after arriving at the school, staff said Madrid told them he didn’t feel well and “couldn’t focus,” asking to go home.

Police said two staff members gave Madrid a ride to a home in the university area in a school vehicle. Morris then saw media coverage of the bus stabbing and called 911, believing Madrid’s behavior may have been related.

Morris identified Madrid as the suspect after police showed him video of the bus attack, according to the complaint.

Morris told the Journal Madrid “had things stacked against him at a younger age.”

“He definitely matured. Like a lot of boys his age, they go through some rough spells here and there, but I also think that’s a little bit of a product of our city, some of the broken homes some of these kids are coming from,” he said.