Man accused of shooting wife and children, leaving 4-year-old dead in Tijeras

A man is behind bars after killing a 4-year-old boy and critically injuring his wife and a baby in a shooting Tuesday at a mobile home park in Tijeras, according to the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office.

Luis Sanchez, 41, is charged with child abuse resulting in death, child abuse and aggravated battery and tampering with evidence. He has been booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center and it is unclear if he has an attorney.

The 2nd Judicial District Attorney's Office said the woman who was injured was an employee. Court records identified her as Paige Mowrer, a local prosecutor.

BCSO was alerted when Mowrer called 911 to say her husband, Sanchez, was armed and making threats, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Metropolitan Court. During the call, gunshots rang out and Mowrer told dispatch Sanchez had shot her and the two children.

In the background of the 911 call, according to deputies, Sanchez could be heard saying, "How is the baby still alive? You should be dead." Deputies said the 1-year-old was shot multiple times and may not survive.

During a news conference Tuesday afternoon, BCSO Sheriff John Allen said, "the charges can always be upgraded."

“I would say this is probably the most difficult 911 call that I’ve ever heard in my career,” he said. “It’s pretty difficult to listen to and hear people suffering and people in the process of dying.”

Sanchez has no previous criminal history and, according to BCSO spokesperson Jayme Gonzales, there was no recent call history associated with the home.

At 1:18 a.m., deputies responded to a call of domestic violence at the Leisure Mountain Mobile Home and RV Park in the 700 block of N.M. 333, about 6 miles south of Interstate 40.

Mowrer told dispatch that her 4-year-old son, identified in court records as "JS," was dead and she and her 1-year-old boy, identified as MS, had been shot, according to the affidavit. When deputies arrived, Sanchez was naked and covered in blood. 

After refusing to surrender peacefully, he was tased by deputies and then arrested, the affidavit states. Deputies then found Mowrer lying next to her children, including the 4-year-old, who was pronounced dead at the scene. 

She and the 1-year-old boy were taken to a hospital, where they remained in critical condition as of Tuesday evening, Allen said.

During the 911 call, deputies said they heard Mowrer telling dispatch she was being attacked by Sanchez, who could be heard screaming. As his voice got louder, the affidavit states, dispatch heard “numerous gunshots and screaming.”

Deputies said Mowrer told dispatch, “My husband shot me with a gun.” Sanchez then yelled, “Why aren’t you dead?” deputies said. After Mowrer told dispatch Sanchez shot her and the children, Mowrer told dispatch to hang up when she dies, according to the affidavit.

Deputies said they also heard Sanchez yelling at Mowrer about her cheating on him and asking if she was calling 911, saying she "should be dead," the affidavit states. 

The affidavit states that, in the 911 call, Sanchez could be heard asking how the baby was "still alive" and said, "The kids are dead and I’m dead." According to the affidavit, Sanchez then said he was in the Marine Corps and "I’m (expletive) insane. Kill me.”

As deputies banged on the door, Sanchez could be heard saying, “What are you going to do? I just killed the baby. They’re dead, you have to kill me, I am a murderer,” according to the affidavit. When Sanchez opened the door he yelled at deputies, “I killed her, she’s a lawyer and I killed this (expletive).”

Inside the home, deputies said they found a wet firearm in the sink.

Mowrer — on her way into surgery at the hospital — told deputies that, at about midnight, Sanchez accused her of cheating, deputies said. She told them Sanchez said he “had talked to God and he was an evil person," got a firearm and shot her and the children, the affidavit states.

Sanchez refused to talk to deputies, according to BCSO.

Deputies said MS was shot multiple times and went into surgery, “but is not stable and it is unclear if MS will survive.”

“This heartbreaking situation has profoundly affected our entire office,” District Attorney Sam Bregman said in a statement Tuesday morning. “While our team confronts difficult and emotional circumstances in the course of our daily work, we are, first and foremost, human. News of this magnitude impacts us not only as professionals but as colleagues, friends, and members of a caring community."

Gregory R.C. Hasman is a general assignment reporter and the Road Warrior. He can be reached at ghasman@abqjournal.com or 505-823-3820.