Details into auto-theft turned homicide revealed as second suspect charged

When Christopher Sanchez confronted teens trying to steal his truck, the boys didn’t hesitate to open fire. Instead of fleeing right away, the group drove by and fired numerous rounds into Sanchez’s motionless body.

New details have emerged after a second suspect was arrested in the Aug. 27 death, which police say involved several young men stealing vehicles around the city and arming themselves with guns purchased off Telegram.

Josiah Arvizu, 19, was charged March 14 with an open count of murder, aggravated burglary and shooting from a motor vehicle. He was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center.

Arvizu’s attorney could not be reached.

Days after the homicide, 17-year-old Jeremy Jones, of Rio Rancho, was charged in the case and remains behind bars at the juvenile detention center.

Few details have been released since Jones’ arrest, but this month his attorney sought a mental health evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial, according to court records. Jones’ attorney declined to comment.

Officers responded around 3:20 a.m. to the 2600 block of Adams NE, near Menaul and Washington, and found Sanchez shot to death near his truck, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Numerous 9mm and .40 caliber bullet casings littered the street and police found a device nearby that can be used to steal vehicles.

Police said a neighbor’s security video showed Sanchez come out of his home holding a rifle to confront a group as they tried to steal his truck. The group shot at Sanchez and ran away before an SUV pulled up and those inside opened fire “while he lies motionless on the ground.”

The next day, an informant told police Jones, who had been living with him, said he had shot Sanchez while trying to steal his truck, the complaint states.

The informant said Jones told him he dropped a device used to steal vehicles while running away.

Police said the informant told them Jones said he and his accomplices in the homicide traded the gun he used to a “crack head” in the South Valley. Jones told the informant the group used social media, particularly Telegram, to buy guns and drugs, according to the complaint.

The informant told police that Jones identified Arvizu as one of his accomplices and another, who has not been charged, as a young man recently released from jail for a stabbing committed as a teen, the complaint states. After his arrest, Jones told police his involvement in the shooting but refused to identify any of his accomplices.

Police said a friend of Jones told the informant that another accomplice in the homicide, a 22-year-old, was killed less than a week later “in retaliation.”

The informant said the “ringleader” of the group was a 26-year-old who had given them the device to steal vehicles.

In a search of the device, police found it had been used to access several vehicles before it was used on Sanchez’s truck, according to the complaint. A search of Jones’ phone showed it was in the area of the homicide when it occurred, and two saved photos of the state law on self-defense.

In February, police said, Jones told his probation officer someone had set up he and his friends to steal vehicles, like Sanchez’s truck, and “take them to Mexico.” When they ran fingerprints found on the truck, they came back to Arvizu, according to the complaint.