Three Teens Fatally Shot in Sandias
Repo...@uni.com
wire:
May 30, 1999
Three Teens Fatally Shot in Sandias
The Associated Press
SANDIA PARK, N.M. -- Three teen-age boys were found fatally shot in a
car on
the east side of the Sandia Mountains.
"Everybody's telling us that these were pretty good kids," Ronni
Sparks,
Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman, said Sunday.
Investigators were trying to determine a motive for the killings, which
occurred late Saturday night, she said.
Investigators were searching a house Sunday where the boys attended a
party
before they were shot, Sparks said. The house is in a gated neighborhood
about
three-quarters of a mile northeast of where the boys' bodies were found,
she
said.
Killed were Matthew Hunt and Kevin Shirley, both 17, and Luis Garcia,
16, all
of Albuquerque, said Sheriff Joe Bowdich.
The bodies were sent to the state Office of the Medical Investigator in
Albuquerque for autopsies, Sparks said.
The bodies were found in the same subdivision where the bodies of two
men who
were shot were discovered in 1995.
"I'm shocked," said Tonja Owens, who lives with her family some 5 miles
to the
south in Cedar Crest. "We have three children, and it's very scary to
think
that's happening up here.
"One of the reasons I moved away from the city is to get away from the
violence," said Owens, who grew up in Albuquerque, which is on the west
side of
the Sandias.
The sheriff's department received an emergency call at around 11:30
p.m.
Saturday from a woman in the Sandia Knolls subdivision who heard several
gunshots, Sparks said.
The woman's husband found the three teens slumped over in the car --
two in
the front seat and one in the bank, Sparks said. Deputies arrived and
verified
the deaths, Sparks said.
"There was an SUV (sport-utility vehicle) in the area about the same
time the
shots were fired, and so we are looking for that," she said.
"It's not clear that it was a drive-by shooting," Sparks said.
There was no immediate indication that the killings were gang- or
drug-related, she said.
The subdivision, off N.M. 14, is isolated and normally quiet -- except
for
home break-ins and vandalism, said George Jordan, who lives about
one-quarter
of a mile east of where the killings occurred.
"You always think that being away from the big populations that you
will run
into less crime, but we were broken into," he said.
Jordan said his neighbors usually stay to themselves -- not because
they are
introverts.
"Usually they're very busy and involved with their families and doing a
million things. They spend a lot of time driving to Albuquerque, taking
their
kids to soccer, things like that."
Owens said she now thinks twice about sending her children outdoors.
"But I don't want to think twice," she said. "I remember when I was a
kid I
was able to go outside and play and walk up to the park without parental
supervision, and now it just wouldn't happen. It's depressing."
The boys' bodies were found not far from where the bodies of Jeff
Unser, 40,
and Lee Benjamin, 39, both of Albuquerque, were discovered Nov. 19,
1995, in
armchairs that had abandoned in front of a Sandia Knolls residence.
They had been killed elsewhere and their bodies had been dumped at
Sandia
Knolls, Sparks said.
A man was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison for fatally
shooting the two men.
Unser was the nephew of retired auto racing greats Al Unser Sr. and
Bobby
Unser, both of Albuquerque.
---------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 6/2/99 online edition of The
KOB-TV,
local Albuquerque, New Mexico NBC-TV affiliate station:
Teen shooting victim laid to rest, investigation continues
New Mexico– Family and friends mourned one of three teen boys killed in
a drive
by shooting Saturday night. Meanwhile, the investigation into their
deaths
continues.
Funeral services for Luis Garcia took place Wednesday morning at
the Holy
Child Catholic Church in Tijeras. The church was filled with Garcia’s
family,
friends and soccer players who are still trying to come to terms with
Luis’
death.
“I’m pretty sure we’re going to stick pretty close together and stay
close
and never forget each other, not forget him, We’ll just keep him in our
memory,” said Jason Lofrese, a friend of Garcia’s.
Even family members of the other two murder victims attended
Wednesday’s
funeral in Tijeras.
A funeral service for Matthew Hunt is scheduled for Thursday morning
at the
St. John’s Methodist Church on Arizona, Northeast at 10 a.m. Kevin
Shirley’s
funeral will be held at St. John’s on Saturday at 10 a.m.
The Investigation
While the victims are being remembered, detectives are still trying
to
determine who is responsible for the murders of Garcia, 17 year-old
Kevin
Shirley and 17 year-old Matthew Hunt in Edgewood.
Since their last briefing Tuesday afternoon, sheriff’s investigators
say there
are nearly thirty new solid leads in the case. Authorities impounded two
sport
utility vehicles that match the description of the suspect’s car.
There are still no suspects in the triple murder, but investigators
are
working overtime to find suspect(s).
Authorities impounded a Ford Explorer and Nissan Pathfinder in
connection
with the case. The Ford Explorer is being held at a towing yard. Both
vehicles
resemble the suspect’s car and were in the east mountains at the time of
the
murders. Authorities say the owners are approximately the same age as
the
victims, and do have a connection to all three.
“They did know the victims but have been interviewed and released,”
said
Lt. Don Raley of the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department.
Investigators say both sport utility vehicles will probably be
searched
later this week.
Authorities still don’t know if an APD traffic stop earlier Saturday
night
has any connection to the triple murder. An officer stopped an SUV three
hours
before the killings, and found a rifle inside, but released the driver.
“We have no connection from that sport utility vehicle to anything
specific
at this time. It was not one of the vehicles we impounded or that we
have a
search warrant for,” said Lt. Raley.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 6/1/99 online edition of The
Albuquerque Journal newspaper:
Tuesday, June 1, 1999
Victim's Mom: Boys 'Sweet Kids'
By Paul Logan and Jennifer Archibeque
Journal Staff Writers
Matt Hunt did a wheelie with his wheelchair when he went to get his
Eldorado
High School diploma at the University of New Mexico Arena last month.
Nothing was going to stop him from succeeding in life, said those close
to him
Monday, not even being paralyzed from the waist down from a pickup truck
accident in January.
Hunt planned to learn how to drive with hand controls. He planned to
attend
UNM on a lottery scholarship.
And he intended to walk again, said his mother, Mary Hunt.
But Hunt, 17, Kevin Shirley, 17, and Luis Garcia, 16, were in the wrong
place
at the wrong time, Hunt's mother said Monday. The three were shot to
death in a
hail of bullets after they left a get-together with a group of friends
late
Saturday night.
Their bodies were found in an orange Datsun on Piñon Heights Road near
Sandia
Knolls.
"All three were really nice, sweet kids," Mary Hunt said. "I really
think (the
shooting) was random or a mistaken identity."
Bernalillo County Sheriff Joe Bowdich said Monday that Detective David
Gallegos was investigating numerous tips that had been called into Crime
Stoppers and police.
"We have some very good leads, but leads do not always pan out,"
Bowdich said
at a news conference.
Police have questioned some of the people at the gathering where the
teens
were before the shooting, but most of the leads so far have come from
people
calling in.
"Somebody's going to hear something. Somebody's going to say something.
Somebody saw something," said Bowdich. "The public's help is extremely
important in a case like this."
Bowdich said he didn't know if the offenders knew the victims.
"We do know the vehicle the victims were in was stopped," said Bowdich.
"There did not seem to be an attempt (by the victims) to leave the
area.
"Three teen-age boys were killed. You have three families that have to
face
what no parents should have to face," said Bowdich.
Bowdich has said that none of the boys had been in trouble with the
law.
Bowdich said Monday that while the killings seem random, police were
looking
into every possibility.
"We're checking with our gang squads and narcotics people," he said.
The gun used to kill the boys was an automatic weapon, Bowdich said,
but he
did not specify the type.
"Whoever did it knew how to use it," he said.
Mary Hunt, who described her family as "in a state of shock," said the
three
boys had gathered with about a half-dozen other friends to "hang out and
talk
and were 'chilling out' together" as they often did on weekends.
Sometimes the group would spend the night before returning home, Hunt's
mother
said. But Matt left a message on the Hunts' answering machine about 6:30
Saturday night promising he would return home by midnight.
Mary Hunt said Matt was paralyzed after being ejected from a pickup
truck
along a particularly dangerous part of Frost Road, near where the
shooting took
place.
"He started playing wheelchair basketball with Judge (Pat) Murdoch,"
his
mother said. "Last Saturday he was playing wheelchair tennis with his
dad, Ken.
He felt nothing could stop him."
Matt was regaining some feeling in his legs and believed he was slowing
recovering, she said.
The Hunts bought him a car on Saturday and were going to outfit it with
hand
controls, she said, "so he would not have to rely on people to pick him
up."
Eldorado principal H. Russell Goff said he, too, was "devastated" by
the
shootings.
"Matt had been through an awfully lot the last six months. It's just
unbelievable, and to have a tragedy like this is so senseless," the
principal
said quietly.
Hunt's memorial service will be Thursday at 10 a.m. at St. John's
Methodist
Church, 2626 Arizona NE. The family requests that donations be sent to
the
Matthew Hunt Memorial Fund, c/o Craig Hospital, 3425 South Clarkson St.,
Englewood, CO 80110. The hospital does research, rehabilitation and
counseling
for people with spinal cord and brain injuries.
The family of Luis Garcia could not be reached for comment.
Garcia was a lifelong resident of Tijeras, according to an obituary
submitted
Monday to the Journal by French Mortuary. He was a member of the Manzano
High
School soccer team and the Zia Sting soccer team. He is survived by his
parents, Rey and Viola Garcia; brother, Rey Jr.; and sister, Karen.
Garcia's funeral will be Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Holy Child Catholic
Church,
562 Atrisco SW.
Kevin Shirley, also of Albuquerque, was a member of the junior varsity
soccer
team at Manzano High School and also played club soccer, said Karen
Janes, a
friend of the Shirley family. He is survived by his parents, Joan and
Wayne
Shirley, and two sisters, Karen and Kirsten.
Shirley was also a member of Saint John's United Methodist Church,
where he
participated in the youth group, Janes said.
"He was a very loyal friend, and he had a real zest for life," she
said.
Funeral arrangements for Shirley had not been set by late Monday.
Anyone with information about the shooting should call Bernalillo
County
Communications at 798-7000 and ask the dispatcher to page Detective
David
Gallegos. People with information can also call Crime Stoppers at
843-STOP.