Man accused of fatally shooting friend then 'assaulting' friend's daughter in NW ABQ

A man was arrested after allegedly shooting his friend in the head during a party at a home near Downtown early Sunday morning.

Seth Stevenson, 42, of Albuquerque, is charged with an open count of murder, child abuse and criminal damage in the fatal shooting of Walter Scott, 48.

Stevenson is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center.

Scott’s daughter identified Stevenson to police, according to a criminal complaint filed at Metropolitan Court.

In September 2023, Stevenson was arrested after allegedly hitting his son and pointing a firearm at him while drunk, according to court records. Child abuse and other charges were later dismissed due to lack of evidence, court records state.

Early Sunday morning, the Albuquerque Police Department responded to a call on the 800 block of 11th Street, near Marble. During the call, a 13-year-old girl told dispatch she saw her father (Scott) on the floor with blood on his head, according to the complaint.

The girl told police she was sleeping when she heard Scott and Stevenson talking loudly during a party, police said. At about 4:45 a.m., the complaint states, she told police she heard a “loud thump/bang” before coming out of the bedroom and seeing Scott’s body.

The girl told police Stevenson threw things at her from the kitchen then tried taking her phone away and forcing his way into her room, police said. At one point, she told police, he held her wrists, according to the complaint.

During the call, she was heard crying and pleading with him to leave, police said. According to the complaint, she was heard saying, “Get off me.” “Leave the house.” “He’s assaulting me.”

Stevenson then broke the front window, jumped out and “appeared to have knocked himself out” as he laid on the porch before getting up, police said. He then tried entering a neighbor’s home before officers found him nearby on Manzano Court with cuts on his arms, the complaint states.

When officers arrived , they found a trail of blood on the street and in the house where they also located a small firearm under a desk next to Scott and a casing in a box next to the gun, police said.

A friend of both men told police Stevenson and Scott were using ketamine and alcohol during the party when they got into arguments about “various issues,” the complaint states. The man told police Scott always had a gun with or near him, but did not know Stevenson to have a firearm, police said.

The man also told police Stevenson liked to party while Scott was described as having a “drill sergeant style” who “was always nitpicking Seth for various things,” according to the complaint.

When the man learned Scott was shot, the man told police Scott “would never hurt himself so he thought it must have been Seth,” police said.