Man accused of drunkenly shooting friend in the head in SE Albuquerque

A man was arrested after allegedly fatally shooting his friend while drinking in Southeast Albuquerque on Monday.

Adam Roberts, 30, of Albuquerque is charged with an open count of murder and negligent use of a firearm in the shooting death of 23-year-old Gavin Huntsman.

Roberts is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center. It is unclear if he has an attorney.

At 11:56 a.m. Monday, the Albuquerque Police Department responded to a call of a shooting in the 300 block of Washington SE, near Coal and Zuni.

When they arrived, they found Huntsman dead with a gunshot wound to the head and a handgun a few feet away from Roberts, who was sitting on a curb, according to a criminal complaint filed at Metropolitan Court. A woman at the scene told police Roberts “accidentally” shot Huntsman after he and Huntsman were “messing with the gun (and) the gun went off” inside an apartment parking lot, police said.

The woman told police all three were at Roberts’ apartment drinking when Roberts said he wanted to go to the mesa west of Albuquerque to shoot his new gun, the complaint states. The trio went shooting in the mesa and then bought more alcohol before returning to the apartment, police said.

Police said the woman told them while they were in the parking lot, Roberts told Huntsman to “get your (expletive) together.” She told police that Roberts raised the gun toward Huntsman and said, “I might as well kill you if you don’t care about your life,” before shooting him.

The woman told police Roberts then said, “He’s (expletive) gone, I just killed my brother,” the complaint states. She told police Roberts said he was going to kill himself, but she convinced him to give her the firearm.

After being arrested, Roberts told police, “I’m cooked, I’m cooked,” according to the complaint.

In 2021, Roberts was charged with three counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and one count of aggravated battery against a household member, strangulation or suffocation. That case was dismissed because a witness refused to testify, according to court records.