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Man arrested after shooting death of man with stolen trailer in South Valley
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A man is accused of ramming into a pickup then fatally shooting a man who reportedly stole a trailer belonging to the suspect's brother.
Miguel Varela, 22, of Albuquerque is charged with an open count of murder.
Varela is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center. It is unclear if he has an attorney.
Varela told deputies he fired eight shots at a pickup hauling his brother's stolen trailer because "he panicked and thought the driver was reaching for a weapon," according to a criminal complaint filed at Metropolitan Court.
At about 11 a.m. Sunday, the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office responded to a call of a stolen trailer with an excavator in the area of Broadway and Prosperity.
When deputies arrived, they found a man — later identified as Isidro Ramirez, 40 — unconscious inside a pickup with a revolver in his waistband and a gunshot wound, deputies said. He was pronounced dead at the scene, the complaint states.
Varela told deputies he was with his girlfriend when his brother called and told him he found the trailer that had been stolen, deputies said. Varela then told deputies as he got to Prosperity Avenue and saw a pickup pulling the trailer, he rammed into the truck in an "attempt to stop it," the complaint states.
Varela told deputies as the truck went in reverse he fired eight shots at the pickup ,deputies said.
He told deputies after he fired, he ducked into his vehicle. Then the pickup drove forward and hit his vehicle before crashing into a telephone pole, according to the complaint. Varela told deputies he saw a man leave the passenger side of the truck then run. Varela yelled at the man to stop before deputies arrived and arrested Varela, deputies said.
