Couple charged in accidental shooting that injured man inside Albuquerque diner

A woman is accused of bringing a gun inside Duran’s Central Pharmacy on Sunday and dropping it, leading to another diner being shot in the head.

Amanda Sheppard, 39, is charged with unlawful carrying and negligent use of a firearm and tampering with evidence.

Her boyfriend, Jonathan Olivas, 28, is charged with tampering with evidence for allegedly picking up the revolver before the couple fled the diner.

Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque police spokesman, said the couple, who are from Bloomfield, turned themselves in Wednesday.

The man who was shot in the head was treated at a hospital and is expected to recover.

Police responded to a shooting sometime Sunday at the popular diner, near Lomas and Central. Officers found a man who had been shot in the head and was being helped by fellow diners.

The man’s friend told police a couple was eating behind them when “a gun went off” and the boyfriend picked up something off the floor, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. He said the boyfriend said, “hurry up, let’s go” and left first with the women following soon after, but not before she handed a napkin to the injured man.

Police said the man who was shot told them from his hospital bed that he spoke briefly with the boyfriend before the shooting, describing him as “a nice, big guy.” He told police they discussed the boyfriend’s sweater, which read “Assholes Live Forever,” and how they both had Chicano backgrounds.

The man told police after they sat at their respective tables he felt like he was hit in the head with a baseball bat and fell to the floor, according to the complaint. The man said he believed that the boyfriend was responsible.

“He knew the shooting was not intentional but wished that the male was more responsible,” according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Surveillance photos of the couple were released to Crime Stoppers, and through tips, police said they identified the couple as Olivas and Sheppard.

Officers found a Rio Rancho home, on Gunpowder Court, tied to the couple and watched them leave the house on Wednesday, according to the complaint. The couple led detectives to the northwest substation, where Olivas told police he wanted to “clear up what’s going on.”

Police said Olivas told them Sheppard had a small-caliber revolver in her purse and when the purse fell, the gun went off. He said he picked up the gun and gave it back to Sheppard after they left the restaurant.

Olivas told police he tried to call 242-COPS but “did not get an answer” after seeing his face on the Crime Stoppers flyer, according to the complaint.

Police said Sheppard told them she did not know she had the gun in her purse and had borrowed it from a friend because she “has a out-of-state stalker.” She said she gave the gun back to her friend on Tuesday afternoon.

As police asked her more about the friend, Sheppard “appeared to be getting frustrated with (the) questions” and asked for a lawyer.