Police name man shot and killed in SE Albuquerque on Friday

Search on for man seen in photograph

Police have identified the man who was shot and killed in southeast Albuquerque on Friday as 42-year-old Harvey Saavedra and they’re still looking for leads as to who killed him.

Saavedra’s family is desperate for answers as they grapple with the death of the father of three.

Police were called around 6 p.m. Friday to the 8000 block of Zuni SE near Pennsylvania where they found Saavedra shot to death near a mobile home park.

Saavedra’s sister, Amy Valverde, described her brother as loving and dedicated to his family, though he had a troubled past, and had been in and out of jail and prison.

“He was trying to get better,” she said. “He went back and served his time. That’s all we know.”

Online court records show Saavedra was convicted in 1999 of second-degree murder. A Journal story from 1999 reported that Saavedra, then 24, was arrested in connection to the beating death of a 40-year-old man. Court records show he was convicted in 2014 of taking his 7-year-old nephew on a Walmart shoplifting spree. Confronted by security, Saavedra ran, leaving the boy in the cart. Over the years, he’d been accused of property and drugrelated crimes.

Still, his friends and family on Sunday lamented on Facebook the passing of “Beast,” as he was known.

“I can’t believe the way he was taken away from me so brutally,” Valverde said. “No matter his lifestyle, he didn’t have to die like that. I want to wake up from this nightmare.”

Valverde said her family plans to set up a memorial near the scene of the shooting. And they’re holding on to hope that police will track down the person responsible.

Albuquerque police officer Simon Drobik said detectives are still trying to identify a “person of interest” shown in a photo the department released on Saturday of a man who is running and appears to be holding a gun.

Saavedra had two sons, ages 9 and 11, and a daughter who is in her early 20s.

Jennifer Avalos-Padilla, the mother of Saavedra’s sons, said the boys are in shock.

“They don’t understand what kind of a person would take their dad’s life like that,” Avalos-Padilla said. “They don’t know what to do or say. They know they didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to their dad.”