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Santa Fe man arrested in shooting of Sonic employee
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Bernalillo County deputies have arrested a man accused of shooting a fast-food restaurant employee in the head last month in Santa Fe.
Mariano Romero, 31, of Santa Fe, was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Sunday after being arrested near Zuni and San Mateo in Albuquerque.
Romero is charged with attempted murder and threatening a witness. It is unclear who his attorney is.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Santa Fe Magistrate Court, a witness identified Romero to police.
On Tuesday, Santa Fe police released a social media post stating it was looking for Romero’s girlfriend, Savannah Edwards, 26 — who allegedly was with Romero on the night of the shooting — as a person of interest in the case.
A GoFundMe page was created to raise money for the shooting victim’s medical expenses.
At about 11 p.m. on July 25, a Sonic employee told a Santa Fe County dispatcher that another employee had been shot in the head. When officers arrived at the restaurant in the 2800 block of Cerrillos Road, they rendered aid to the man, who was taken to a hospital.
Police said a witness told them Romero and the employee got into an argument that escalated. The man told police he wasn’t sure if Romero was trying to commit a robbery, but he saw the victim fight back before Mariano pulled out a revolver and shot him.
The witness “quickly picked out” Romero in a photo lineup, saying he was “110%” sure he was the shooter, according to the affidavit. The witness also told police that Romero told a woman that “if she told anyone (about the shooting), she was next.”
Police said a woman told them Romero was “bragging” about the shooting and he later told her, “I am not a bad person. I didn’t mean to do it.”
