Twenty-seven homicides and counting

By Dan Klein

-- ABQ goes 13 days without a homicide. Good for you, Albuquerque?

As of Friday morning, Albuquerque Police reported a new homicide at the Imperial Motel. This will increase the number of homicides to 25 for the year 2021, with 22 of those being murders. Hold on, breaking news, one hour later APD reported that they had at least two bodies at the Sunport that were being investigated as homicides. So now Albuquerque has at least 27 homicides for 2021.

Congratulations Albuquerque you went a whopping 13 days between homicides (last reported homicide was February 20), then you went one hour.

The three homicides APD has determined as “justified” are:

Claude Trevino, killed by APD on February 20, 2021 after he threatened officers with a knife.

Ruben Parra on February 2, 2021. APD has not released any other details.

Mark Padilla on January 9, 2021. APD has not released any other details.

Did you know that, excluding homicides caused by law enforcement, there is no outside agency review for homicides that APD determine to be justified. The 2nd Judicial District Attorney office refused to comment when asked why they don’t review all homicides to make sure there are no criminal elements. A DA office source explained to me that if APD (or any law enforcement agency) doesn’t send them a case, the DA doesn’t get to review it. This is something that should be changed for all homicide investigations. Regarding homicides, it should be the DA that has the final say, not the police. This will ensure a fair review.

We are still waiting for APD to provide more details as to why the three people found dead in a home in Westgate is considered “accidental.” Media reporting of these deaths alluded to a body being found in a car in the garage that was running and two more bodies found inside the residence. There are a lot of questions regarding this triple death event. Did all three people died from exhaust fumes from the car? Building codes require a barrier between the garage and the home so exhaust fumes can’t get inside, so how did the two people inside die? If the person in the car did commit suicide, then the two people in the house would be considered homicides if they were accidentally overcome with fumes. There are also questions regarding the identities of all three individuals and their criminal histories. APD should be more forthcoming regarding this triple death event, their silence is creating more questions and concerns in the community.

Also outstanding are the identities and cause of deaths of the two men found dead in a house fire in southeast Albuquerque. Once again we have requested the identities of these two individuals and their cause of death and once again Mayor Kellers’ police department refuses to answer. So much for transparency.

Sources within APD are also telling ABQREPORT that there have been approximately 120 non homicide gunfire events in the city since January 1. That amounts to two gunfire events every day (that didn’t result in a homicide) since January 1.

In a nutshell Albuquerque went 13 days between homicides. Albuquerque now has 27 homicides with 22 being murders. APD has an additional five deaths from two events that they are refusing to make any further comment on.

Quoting past Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, “Good for you Albuquerque!” I guess.