Jury acquits two teens of murder Downtown shooting death; one convicted of lesser charges

Jurors on Friday acquitted two teenagers of first-degree murder in the 2024 shooting death of a 17-year-old boy at a Downtown parking structure.

But the jury found Ruben Valdez, 18, guilty of voluntary manslaughter and shooting at or from a vehicle for firing gunshots at the parking structure, fatally striking Mariano Salazar in the chest.

Jurors acquitted Elliott Peralta, 19, Valdez’s cousin, of all charges, including first-degree murder, tampering with evidence and conspiracy in Salazar’s killing.

Salazar was standing near an opening on the fourth level of a parking garage at Second and Gold SW when he was shot in the chest on June 30, 2024. He died at the scene.

Prosecutors argued that Valdez fired gunshots from the passenger window of a car driven by Peralta at a group of young people looking down from an opening in the parking structure, killing Salazar.

An attorney for both Valdez and Peralta told jurors that Valdez fired in self-defense as gunmen in the parking garage yelled taunts and pointed weapons at him, including guns with laser sights.

The taunts included threats to Valdez’s life, defense attorney Elizabeth Bunker said Monday in opening statements. Valdez and Peralta had been hanging out at a parking lot across the street from the parking structure, which Bunker called a “meet-up spot” for teenagers.

“Ruben (Valdez) had the right to defend himself and he had a right to defend his cousin, Elliott (Peralta),” Bunker told jurors. “You will learn that the fourth story (of the parking structure) was covered with men with firearms.”

Jurors reached the verdicts Friday following a weeklong trial in 2nd Judicial District Court before Judge Cindy Leos. Valdez could face up to 20 years in prison if he is sentenced as an adult, but Leos has the choice of sentencing him as juvenile, prosecutors said. A sentencing hearing had not been scheduled Friday.

Evidence in the trial relied heavily on social media messages exchanged both before and after the killing, particularly those showing a long-running dispute between Valdez and another youth who was present in the parking structure at the time of the shooting.

“This is a case where these young men were having issues and didn’t like this other group,” prosecutor Guinevere Ice said Monday in opening statements. “So the defendant, Ruben Valdez, made the decision to shoot up into that garage, knowing there were multiple other young people up there, and then Mariano Salazar lost his life.”

Peralta faces unrelated charges for allegedly firing gunshots at vehicles parked outside an ex-girlfriend’s home in Northeast Albuquerque on March 2, court records show.

No trial date has been scheduled for those charges, which include two counts each of shooting at or from a motor vehicle and criminal damage to property.