Men arrested for alleged gang violence shooting death

Four men are behind bars while a fifth is wanted by law enforcement for allegedly shooting and killing a man in 2024 in what police believe was gang violence.

Jacques Dillard, 23, is charged with an open count of murder, shooting at an occupied building, tampering with evidence and two counts of conspiring to commit a felony. He was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center last Thursday.

Rashad Jones, 22, Nathaniel Munguia, 22, Malaki Nyugen, 20, and Tarrance Williams, 23, face similar charges, including murder. Williams has not been detained but has a warrant for his arrest as of March 14.

“Someone willing to coordinate with other parties to carry out a murder is not someone who will have respect for conditions of release,” states a pretrial detention motion filed for Dillard in Metropolitan Court on Friday.

Albuquerque police responded around 10 p.m. on June 18, 2024, in reference to a shooting near Candelaria and Carlisle NE, and found a man — later identified as Javon Williams — with a gunshot wound, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

He was transported to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries.

Officers searched and found 14 bullet casings outside the property and learned there “were likely two guns firing simultaneously because of the noticeably erratic sequence of gunfire,” the complaint states.

Police spoke with nearby neighbors who told them they heard several gunshots before a vehicle drove away at a “high rate of speed,” according to the complaint.

Officers spoke to a woman who told police that the shooting was likely done by a group of men involved with a local gang and that the group had allegedly shot at other people’s houses in the past, the complaint states. The woman told police the group posted on social media on a frequent basis.

Social media searches showed several accounts linked to Jones, Williams, Nguyen and Dillard, which featured some of the men posing in photos with guns, according to the complaint.

A search warrant was issued for the accounts and officers found messages between Munguia and another man, where Munguia was “urgently trying to get a hold of (the man) and ultimately appears to meet with him in order to give him a Glock firearm directly after the shooting,” the complaint states.

Other social media messages between the men showed that there were two prior shootings on June 6 at the houses of people who associated with a gang, according to the complaint.

Police learned that there were two additional shootings less than a day after the death of Javon Willams and said they were “likely done in retaliation,” the complaint states.

Officers gathered surveillance footage and saw video of a man walking around the northeast Albuquerque house an hour before Javon Willams was shot, according to the complaint. A vehicle could also be seen driving by the house several times.

“... It is clear this person is scouting the area prior to the drive-by shooting occurring,” the complaint states.

Roughly one minute before the shooting, another vehicle passed by the house before a gunfire detection device picked up 21 rounds of gunfire, according to the complaint.

“A clear, thought-out plan was conducted to commit the shooting and the same persons can be observed at multiple times on surveillance video prior to, during and after the homicide occurs,” the complaint states.

Police in March issued arrests warrants for the men, excluding Dillard, and the four were arrested. When the men were in jail, they all made statements that everyone involved had been arrested except for Dillard, according to the complaint.

Officers concluded that Tarrance Williams, Nguyen and Jones scouted the area and Munguia and Dillard shot at the house, the complaint states.