Stabbing victim was with his wife
Police say couple were joking around, but suspect thought man was talking to him
Daniel Sandoval, 48, and his wife were walking into the Albertsons Market on Rio Bravo and Isleta SW on Saturday afternoon when his wife said they saw two men walking toward the store, one of whom they thought looked like her brother.
The couple joked about the resemblance and playfully challenged each other to a fight as they went into the store, Felicia Campbell told detectives.
But apparently one of the two men thought they were talking to him.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, the men were Lucas Herron, 27, and his 14-year-old brother.
Herron is now accused of stabbing
Sandoval to death in the entrance of the grocery store. He is charged with murder and was booked into the county jail.
On Monday, the District Attorney’s Office filed a motion asking for Herron to be held behind bars until trial, citing his “past conduct, history relating to drug or alcohol abuse, criminal history, and record concerning appearance at court proceedings.”
Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputies were called to the grocery store around 3 p.m. Saturday to find Sandoval just inside the entrance of the store with a stab wound to the chest. He died at the scene.
According to the complaint, security video from the store shows Sandoval walking into the store and then getting into a verbal fight with Herron. Campbell and Herron’s brother tried to separate them, but the situation escalated.
“Lucas and Daniel then get into a physical fight as Daniel swings a fist towards Lucas,” a detective wrote in the complaint. “During this time, Lucas has a green sweatshirt draped over his right forearm and eventually thrusts his arm into Daniel’s chest. Lucas and (his brother) then quickly turn around and run out of the store.”
A short time later, deputies found Herron walking northbound on a nearby ditch bank and his brother at a McDonald’s restaurant. They also found a bloody green sweatshirt and a 6-inch-long knife that had been discarded nearby, according to the complaint.
When he was interviewed, Herron told detectives “I did it, I did it, it was me,” and that someone was “starting (expletive) and I defended myself,” according to the complaint. He said he confronted Sandoval in the store and then Sandoval swung a punch at him so he stabbed him because he was scared.
Herron’s family members declined to comment Monday. And Sandoval’s relatives could not be reached.