Four Albuquerque men charged in alleged gang feud that left one dead in 2024 drive-by

Four men are charged with murder after back-and-forth drive-by shootings between alleged gangs left a man dead last year in Northeast Albuquerque.

Rashad Jones, Tarrance Williams II, Nathaniel Munguia, all 22, and Malakai Nguyen, 19, are charged with an open count of murder in the June 18, 2024, death of 23-year-old Javon Williams.

Police say the alleged gang members committed several shootings against each other and continued to do so in retaliation after the homicide. No one was injured in the other shootings, which left bullet holes in apartments and homes across the city.

Detectives believed Williams was not a target of the gang war and just happened to be on the porch of an acquaintance, a gang member, when bullets started flying.

At the time of the homicide, according to police, Munguia was on a GPS monitor and the device data placed him “at almost the exact location” of the shooting. Cellphone records and video evidence placed the other three in the area, police say.

Jones, Munguia and Nguyen have all been booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center. Williams has a warrant for his arrest.

Court records show Jones was on probation at the time of the homicide, having taken a plea deal offered by prosecutors after he sold fentanyl pills to an undercover officer in May 2024.

As for Munguia, he was awaiting trial in a separate June 2024 incident where he allegedly elbowed an officer — breaking his teeth — while armed with a rifle, according to court records. That case was thrown out in December after an Albuquerque officer failed to provide evidence to prosecutors after four requests.

Prosecutors filed motions to detain Jones, Munguia and Nguyen, until trial, saying the killing was “gang-related.”

“It was not a random act but was duly planned and executed,” according to the motions. “The defendant’s role was thoroughly documented.”

The first reported shootings between the two groups were on June 4, less than two hours apart, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Around 10 p.m., 11 rounds were fired at a home where Tarrance Williams lived, and at 11:40 p.m., a spray of gunfire hit the apartment of an acquaintance of Javon Williams.

On July 18, police were called to a drive-by shooting in the 3000 block of Aliso NE, near Candelaria and Carlisle, and found Javon Williams fatally shot with bullet casings from two separate guns.

Police said three hours later, and again on June 20, retaliatory shootings happened at the apartments of an opposing gang member and where Jones lived. A search of social media revealed a tit-for-tat feud between Javon Williams’ acquaintances and a group that included Jones, Tarrance Williams, Munguia and Nguyen.

Security video showed a group matching a description of the four suspects casing the house where Javon Williams was killed minutes before the drive-by shooting, according to the complaint.