Testimony begins in fatal shootings of three in Southeast Albuquerque

Attorneys offered jurors opposing narratives Tuesday to explain why Thomas Clark opened fire from the back seat of a car in 2023, leaving three people dead outside a Southwest Albuquerque apartment complex.

Clark’s attorney, John McCall, told jurors Tuesday that his client fired in self-defense after people he described as “very dangerous” drug dealers threatened to kill Clark.

But a prosecutor argued that jurors will hear no testimony during Clark’s trial this week that anyone had threatened his life before he fired nine fatal gunshots within six seconds from the back seat of a car.

Clark, 34, faces three counts of first-degree murder in the Aug. 31, 2023, shooting deaths of Jonathan McGaughy, 31, Genea Oliver, 35, and Randy Lovett, 40.

His trial in 2nd Judicial District Court is expected to continue through Friday before Judge Clara Moran.

“Genea (Oliver) is talking about taking (Clark) out to Nine Mile Hill, and everybody knows what happens out at Nine Mile Hill,” McCall said in opening statements.

“That’s where people get killed and their bodies get buried or left,” McCall told jurors. “So this is what he’s hearing from these people.”

Clark was friends with McGaughy, who dealt large quantities of fentanyl pills and traveled with an “entourage,” some of whom were known to rob and kill drug dealers, McCall said.

“These people were involved in some very serious and dangerous games, and (Clark) was told that they were very dangerous,” he told jurors. “They were stealing drugs from drug dealers, and if they resisted, they were killing them.”

Assistant District Attorney Collin Brennan told jurors that Clark’s own statements to police refute his claim that he felt threatened before he opened fire. Prosecutors plan to show jurors Clark’s interview with police.

“He doesn’t say that anybody is threatening his life at that time,” Brennan said. “But he makes the decision to get ahead of it because he believes they may take him to Nine Mile Hill, even though nobody will testify that they ever told him that.”

Albuquerque police investigating a crash nearby heard a volley of gunfire around 4:30 a.m. and followed the gunfire to Rhode Island and Bell SE, where they found McGaughy, Oliver and Bennett fatally shot near a 2009 Mitsubishi Galant, according to a criminal complaint filed in Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court.

Police used a drone to find Clark on a roof at 320 Texas SE, the complaint said.

Brennan said prosecutors plan to use ShotSpotter technology, which alerts police to the location of gunfire, as key evidence in the trial. ShotSpotter data shows that 19 gunshots were fired in less than a minute, the complaint said.

Brennan said Clark fired 16 of those gunshots, beginning with a rapid volley of nine gunshots from a 9mm handgun.

“This case comes down to approximately six seconds,” Brennan said. “We know Thomas Clark, in those six seconds, he took three people’s lives.”