Police: Shooting suspect believed victim was snitch

Two years ago, Angelo Burdex, 30, and Desmick Sharber, 26, were arrested by federal agents who said they sold more than $2,000 worth of crack cocaine to an undercover agent.

Then, last month, Sharber was shot eight times in the torso.

And he told detectives the man who shot him did so because he believed Sharber had “snitched” on Burdex and was the reason he had been sent to prison. That man, Dashawn Robertson, 25, was arrested Monday and charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and attempt to commit murder.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, officers were called to the 1300 block of Ortiz SE in the early morning hours of Sept. 11 for a shooting. While they were on the way there, they were told the victim, Sharber, had been taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital with traumatic injuries. Some of his organs had to be removed in surgery.

A couple of days later Sharber told detectives he had been hanging out with friends when Burdex’s “associate” Robertson came up to him, pulled out a firearm and accused him of costing him $9,000. Then, he said, Robertson shot him multiple times in the chest.

“Desmick believed Deshawn shot him because Deshawn believed Desmick ‘snitched’ on Angelo, causing Angelo to be sent to prison,” the detective wrote in the complaint.

Sharber and Burdex had been arrested in the fall of 2015, and charged with conspiracy and distribution of crack cocaine. Barber pleaded guilty to possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute and Sharber pleaded guilty to distribution of crack cocaine.

According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court, the pair sold $2,400 worth of the drug to an undercover special agent. They were arrested a month later after agents conducting surveillance on Sharber watched him meet with Burdex at a convenience store parking lot and leave with 58 grams of crack cocaine.

Burdex was sentenced to five years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release. It’s unclear from online court documents what Sharber was sentenced to and a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not respond to questions.