'The muscle' or caught in the crossfire? Jurors weigh first-degree murder charge in teenager's 2019 killing

Jurors began deliberations Monday in the trial of a man charged with first-degree murder for his alleged role in the shooting death of an Albuquerque teenager during a 2019 robbery.

Jurors must decide whether Matthew Wood, 24, knowingly participated in a robbery that led to the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Noah Tafoya outside a West Side apartment complex.

Wood told jurors on Monday that he knew nothing of his co-defendant’s plan to rob Tafoya during a gun purchase and was later caught in the crossfire.

The gun battle left Tafoya dead and three others critically injured on Sept. 12, 2019.

Prosecutors told jurors Monday that Wood helped plan the robbery and supported his co-defendant, Everton “Trey” McNab, 24, who has since pleaded guilty to murder for fatally shooting Tafoya.

Wood “was the muscle in this situation,” prosecutor Christine Jablonsky told jurors. “He is there as the overseer to make sure everything goes down the way it’s supposed to.”

Defendant’s account

Wood told jurors Monday that McNab told him nothing about his plans until after the two played a pickup game of basketball at the Paradise Hills Community Center earlier that evening.

After the game, McNab directed Wood to drive to the Rio Volcan Apartments at 1919 Ladera NW and park in front, where McNab planned a gun purchase.

“He told me he had to make a stop real quick and he was going to buy a gun,” Wood testified in his own defense Monday. “I didn’t think anything of it. I just figured he was old enough and it wasn’t illegal.”

After Wood parked his car outside the apartments, McNab told Wood to “take a walk,” he testified. Wood said he walked away from the car and smoked a cigarette, then heard gunfire.

Wood said he ran back to his car and was immediately struck in the chest by a bullet.

Wood is charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and other charges in connection with the fatal shootout.

Wood’s co-defendant, McNab, 24, pleaded guilty in May 2022 to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Witness account

Tafoya, who lived with his parents at the Rio Volcan Apartments, was driven to the complex by Jordan Chavez, who then remained in the driver’s seat of his Mercedes Benz. Tafoya exited Chavez’s car and climbed into the passenger seat of Wood’s Toyota Camry to speak with McNab, prosecutors alleged.

McNab planned to rob Tafoya and steal his gun, cash and jewelry, prosecutors allege. At some point, the two began struggling over a gun, spraying multiple gunshots inside the Toyota.

Meanwhile, Jablonsky told jurors, Wood approached the driver’s door of the Mercedes, opened the door and held a knife to Chavez’s throat to prevent Chavez from intervening in the robbery.

An exchange of gunfire followed between Chavez and Wood that left both critically injured, Jablonsky said in closing arguments.

Wood suffered gunshot wounds to the chest and hip that required emergency surgery and left him hospitalized for two weeks, Wood testified.

Chavez drove from the scene and was later hospitalized. Wood and McNab drove to Presbyterian Hospital, leaving Tafoya fatally wounded with gunshot wounds to the stomach and leg.

Wood’s attorney, Robert Gorence, told jurors in closing arguments that police found no evidence that connected him to any of the firearms involved in the shootout.

Gorence told jurors that the man who killed Tafoya pleaded to second-degree murder while Wood faces first-degree murder, which carries a possible life sentence.