Man charged in road rage homicide in Las Cruces

LAS CRUCES — A suspect has been charged with second-degree murder over a June 2 shooting that claimed the life of a 14-year-old boy sitting in the back seat of a car during an altercation police have attributed to road rage.

On Thursday, Las Cruces police issued two news releases, five hours apart, announcing they had arrested a man suspected of killing Alejandro Roman at a busy intersection near downtown. The first announcement withheld the name of the suspect, citing a continuing investigation, while the second announcement identified him as Jonathan Estrada, 18.

According to jail records, Estrada was arrested Thursday morning at a business on Las Cruces' north side, where prosecutors stated he is employed.

Estrada made an initial appearance in 3rd Judicial District Court on Friday and remains in custody without bond as prosecutors seek to detain him through his trial.

Police responded at approximately 9 p.m. on June 2 to reports of shots fired near Solano Drive and Spruce Avenue. Roman had been wounded by gunfire and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Prosecutors allege the conflict began after a vehicle accidentally cut Estrada off in a section of N. Telshor Drive where lanes merge. The pretrial detention motion alleges that Estrada pursued the other vehicle, brandished a handgun and fired five shots into the vehicle, striking two passengers, including Roman.

Following up on a tip, investigators say they tracked the location of Estrada's mobile phone on June 2 and had also gathered evidence that he had altered his vehicle's appearance.

Estrada has been charged with six felony counts. In addition to second-degree murder, the charges include felony tampering with evidence for allegedly altering his vehicle, shooting at or from a vehicle resulting in death, shooting at or from a vehicle causing great bodily harm and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Estrada's detention hearing is set for next Friday.

Few states have laws on the books defining road rage, making trends difficult to track, but the best data available, including from the Gun Violence Archive, suggests a rising trend of gun violence in connection to altercations among motorists.

The Pew Research Center reported last November that annual road rage incidents involving guns hit a peak of 692 in 2019 with a subsequent decline; yet fatalities and injuries have increased, hitting a 2022 peak of 148 deaths and 421 people injured, based on available data.

The neighboring state of Utah passed a road rage law last year in response to increases in fatalities from road rage incidents and aggressive driving more broadly. The law allows charges to be enhanced and driver's licenses to be revoked if road rage is found to be a factor in a crime.