Prosecutors seek to detain son who allegedly killed father at Northeast Albuquerque home

Prosecutors are seeking to keep a man behind bars in the shooting death of his father Thursday at a home the pair were fixing up in Northeast Albuquerque.

Anthony Hargreaves, 20, is charged with an open count of murder in the death of 43-year-old Keith Hargreaves. The son told police he shot his father — who relatives said was abusive — after the two smoked methamphetamine.

Anthony Hargreaves is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center. It is unclear if he has an attorney.

In a motion to detain Anthony Hargreaves until trial, prosecutors said he “freely admits to shooting and killing his father, but cannot recall what they were arguing about, or provide any justification for the murder.”

The motion states, “No conditions of release that can prevent Defendant from panicking and killing people any time he feels vaguely threatened or annoyed.”

The Albuquerque Police Department responded around 2:30 p.m. to a reported shooting at a home in the 5400 block of Edwards NE, near Spain and Juan Tabo, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Metropolitan Court. Officers found Keith Hargreaves dead on the floor of the home, a bullet wound to his head, and a silver revolver on the kitchen counter.

Police said the son was sitting in a vehicle outside and officers detained him. Anthony Hargreaves’ sister told police he called her at 1 p.m. and said he shot their father.

The sister told police that Keith Hargreaves had been verbally and physically abusive toward the family, used meth and “seemed very delusional at times,” according to the affidavit. She said the gun used by her brother belonged to their father and officers found no sign of an altercation in the home.

Police said the sister told them the father had given Anthony Hargreaves a black eye a month ago and she believed the shooting was “in self-defense.” She said her brother “was depressed, suicidal and maybe schizophrenic” but had no diagnosed disorders.

Anthony Hargreaves told police he and his father had been kicked out of where they had been living three days ago and were staying at a home they were fixing up as “a side job,” according to the affidavit. He said the pair smoked meth Thursday morning and his father got aggressive and was “being manipulative.”

Police said Anthony Hargreaves told them he couldn’t remember what happened or “what they were arguing about” before he shot his father. The son said he asked his father, who by then was dead on the floor, a question but would not tell detectives what the question was.

“When he thought about the question, Anthony would smirk and cover his face with his hands,” the affidavit states. “He said he felt a lot of emotions after killing his father.”

The son then asked for an attorney.

A petition for a restraining order was filed against Keith Hargreaves by his then-wife in 2023, alleging he threatened to kill the whole family and followed her around with an unloaded handgun, pulling the trigger several times while pointing it at her.

The woman wrote Anthony Hargreaves and his sister witnessed the abuse, according to the petition.