APD investigated 96 homicides last year, 3 fewer than 2023

The Albuquerque Police Department recorded fewer than 100 homicides in 2024.

But officials said the total would have been much lower if not for a particularly violent August, when 16 people were killed — one person every other day.

The city was on pace to have under 80 homicides last year, Police Chief Harold Medina said at a news conference Thursday morning.

The toll included the death of 13-year-old Michael Tubb, who was allegedly shot by Thomas Acee, the son of a lauded FBI agent, and two murder-suicides. In one of those cases, a 22-year-old man allegedly killed his sister, 20, and 17-year-old brother before turning the gun on himself at the family’s home in Southeast Albuquerque.

APD finished 2024 with 96 homicides, or three fewer than in 2023, when the department investigated 99. The 96 homicides marked about a 21% drop from 2022, a record-high year that saw APD investigate 121 killings.

Detectives solved 79 homicide cases last year, 61 of them from 2024 and 18 homicides that happened in years past.

As a result, police charged 127 homicide suspects, 88 of them accused in 2024 homicides. The other 39 were suspects in prior-year homicides, APD spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said in a news release.

Some homicides involve multiple suspects, and some suspects are accused in multiple deaths.

The motives for the various killings are “very subjective except to one person — the person who committed the murder,” APD Cmdr. Kyle Hartsock said. “They know in their heart what truly pushed them to do it even if they only thought of it half a second before they pulled the trigger.”

APD released a list of motives for last year’s homicides and found 27 were a result of “individual disrespect” — a fight between two people — and 23 were tied to a domestic violence incident.

“I wish it was more complicated, but it’s not,” Hartsock said.

There were people shot in gas station parking lots because someone would say, “You’re in my way. Move and (they) didn’t move,” he said. “It just kept escalating until someone pulled out a gun and someone’s dead.”

The domestic violence homicides are “really concerning,” Medina said, especially the murder-suicides. In these cases, there were no prior police reports prior to the homicides, Hartsock said.

“These victims weren’t on the radar at all,” he said.

APD is working with nonprofit groups to let people know that if they are dealing with domestic violence situations there are places they can go for help, Hartsock said.

Another disturbing trend for APD involved people using apps like Telegram to acquire weapons used in homicides — such as the June shooting deaths of Abdullah Abbas, 20, and Kylee Silva, 17, who were killed in a reported drug and gun deal.

Medina said he’d like to see changes in accountability for social media companies that would include giving police “information we need to help solve cases” and help stop some of the online firearm transactions.

“We’re still hopeful we will get better cooperation from these social media companies,” Hartsock said. “They are facilitating these really violent meetups and setups.”

For now, Hartsock said parents should sign up for apps their children are using so they can keep an eye on them.

“It’s letting them know, ‘I see you,’” he said. “That will do a lot to kind of deter some of the craziness that we see.”

Police cannot do everything themselves, Medina said.

Life skills should be taught at schools to help students avoid conflict and, he said, “get out of situations where you could become a victim because so many of these homicides are pointless, like Kyle said, because you gave somebody a bad look, because you individually disrespected somebody.”