Suspect charged in fatal stabbing near Second and I-40

A 45-year-old is accused of fatally stabbing another man in Northwest Albuquerque on Tuesday.

Trinity Carlson, who goes by the nickname “Cowboy,” is charged with an open count of murder, tampering with evidence and aggravated assault.

Carlson was detained by officers after the stabbing, before an arrest warrant was issued. He was booked into the Metopolitan Detention Center on Wednesday.

Police were dispatched to Hannett and Third around 6 p.m. Tuesday after receiving a call that a man had been stabbed in the chest, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

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

Witnesses told police that prior to the stabbing, Carlson had gotten into a fight with a man at the Freeway Liquors store, near Second and Interstate 40, the complaint states.

Police obtained surveillance video that showed Carlson approach the man with a metal pipe, according to the complaint.

“A security guard sprays both subjects with an unknown substance and the two leave out of the camera frame,” the complaint states. “It appears that (Carlson) has a sheath on his right hip.”

Witnesses told police that roughly 30 minutes later, Carlson approached the man again on First near McKnight and chased him, according to the complaint. The chase ended in another fight near Third.

“The witness said he heard the victim say ‘Get away from me’ and ‘Please go away,’ as Carlson attempted to grab something from his hip,” Gilbert Gallegos, spokesperson for the Albuquerque Police Department, said in a news release.

Around 8 p.m. an Albuquerque transit security officer reported finding the man with a stab wound to the chest, Gallegos said. 

Officers later found Carlson and noted that he was “red and sweaty” as if he had been pepper sprayed, according to the complaint.

In an interview with police, Carlson said that he had gotten into a fight with the man because he had beaten up Carlson’s girlfriend weeks earlier, the complaint states.

When asked about the second fight, Carlson denied that he was there, according to the complaint. Police say that Carlson told them he had a large knife on him during the first fight but that he did not know where the knife went after that.

Officers asked if Carlson had stabbed the man and he said he “didn’t really stab him,” the complaint states. Carlton told police, “I didn’t even stab him… I think he ran into my (expletive) knife.”

He later told police he used the knife after the man had picked up a rock, according to the complaint.

Nakayla McClelland covers crime and breaking news. Reach her at nmcclelland@abqjournal.com or at 505-823-3857.