Santa Fe teens accused of killing homeless man in Albuquerque

A group of teenagers were driving around Albuquerque, drinking Hennessy and Twisted Tea, when they stopped to harass an unhoused man near a bus stop. Bored, drunk and looking for an adrenaline rush, the teens — one of whom had a gun — took it further and further.

Eventually, according to police, two of the boys chased the man before shooting and killing him.

The alleged shooter, 15-year-old Isaiah Salazar, Xavier Dimas, 16, and Alexis Monrroy, 19, all of Santa Fe, are each charged with an open count of murder, auto theft and lesser charges in the case.

Santiana Martinez, 12, Christy Whiteface, 14 and Felicia Nguyen, 14, all from Albuquerque, are charged with auto theft and criminal damage to property.

Monrroy, the only adult in the group, also faces five counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Hours after the alleged shooting, Santa Fe police say the group attacked a pregnant woman and her family and flashed a gun inside a Burger King.

Police arrested the teens later that day in Santa Fe and found a gun allegedly ditched by the group that would later come back as a match to the Albuquerque homicide.

Prosecutors filed a motion Wednesday to detain Monrroy until trial, saying he “encouraged his group to commit a senseless violent act on an innocent citizen.”

“There are no passive Conditions of Release that can effectively prevent the type of conduct that lead to this tragedy,” according to the pretrial detention motion.

On July 2, police were dispatched at 3:20 a.m. after receiving a call that a man was lying in the road at Eubank and Menaul NE, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Upon arriving, officers found 45-year-old Frank Howard dead with a gunshot wound in the back of his left shoulder and tire marks across his arm.

Vehicle parts were scattered throughout the road and a trail of blood could be seen leading back to Howard’s body.

Police said they identified the suspect vehicle as a black Hyundai and used surveillance footage to track it to an apartment complex, where a group of youths could be seen ditching it and stealing a maroon Hyundai.

Around 7 a.m., police found the maroon Hyundai off of Interstate 25 near Algodones, according to the complaint. Police said a man who lived nearby told them he gave a ride to a group of teens who said their car broke down, and they needed a ride back to Santa Fe.

The man told police he dropped the group off at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center and his wife, who was suspicious of the teenagers, took a photo of the teens and showed it to police.

Santa Fe Police responded around 9 a.m. to a Burger King in the 3000 block of Zafarano Drive after receiving a report that six teenagers armed with a gun had attacked a family.

Dimas had pulled down his pants in front of the family, and the husband confronted him, according to the complaint. Salazar and Dimas began punching the man, while the three girls began hitting the pregnant wife.

Police said after the assault, the teens ran into an open field and left the gun with a red laser on the porch of a residence. Police seized the firearm and it was later matched to a casing found at the Albuquerque homicide scene.

Dimas told officers the teens were drinking and driving around when they spotted Howard at a bus stop, according to the complaint. Dimas said the teens started yelling at Howard and chased him with their car.

When police asked what Salazar’s intention was when exiting the vehicle, Dimas told police “probably to kill or shoot him,” the complaint said.

“He always had a mindset that he wants to stay in jail for the rest of his life,” Dimas told police.

Police said Dimas told them Salazar said, “I shot him, I shot him,” when he got back into the vehicle, according to the complaint. While in a holding cell, Dimas told Salazar, “If we take this (expletive) to trial ... if they solve that (expletive) in Albuquerque, they could use that against us.”