2 teens charged in April homicide, drug robbery
Two teenagers are behind bars in an attempted robbery turned homicide that unfolded in a southwest Albuquerque culde-sac last April and claimed the life of a 20-year-old man.
Gabriel Martinez, 15, and Omar Cordero, 16, were booked into the juvenile detention center Tuesday in connection to the April 20 shooting death of Clifford Patterson in what police are calling a “drug deal gone wrong.”
Martinez is charged with an open count of murder and Cordero is charged with attempted robbery.
Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque police spokesman did not respond to calls and requests for comment on why the teens face separate charges and who fatally shot Patterson, facts that are not apparent in the criminal complaint.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, officers responded to the shooting around 4 p.m. on the 9700 block of Gemstone SW, near 98th and Central.
Police say a man called 911 to report his friend, Patterson, had been shot in the head. Patterson died at the scene.
The man told police he and Patterson had agreed through Facebook messenger to sell a quarter-pound of marijuana to Martinez and arranged to meet in the cul-de-sac.
Police say when Patterson and his friend drove up, Martinez, Cordero and another teen got into the back seat.
Patterson’s friend told police they had just showed them the marijuana when one of them reached into his pocket, pulled out a gun and shot Patterson in the back of the head.
Police say Patterson’s friend was able to grab the gun from the teen and jump out of the car but the teens were stuck in the backseat because the child locks were on.
According to the complaint, one of the teens broke out a window and crawled out of the car while the others shot at Patterson’s friend from the backseat.
Police say Patterson’s friend returned fire—hitting Martinez twice in the legs—until the gun jammed and the three fled the scene.
Patterson’s friend told police he chased the teens but they jumped a wall and got away, so he threw the gun under a bus bench and went to try to revive Patterson. Police say Martinez showed up to the hospital with two gunshot wounds, one to each leg, soon after.
After the hospital, Martinez was taken to the police station where he told officers he, Cordero and another teen named “Damian” had been planning to rob someone for a few weeks and they “were just supposed to rob them, not kill anyone.”
Police say Martinez denied shooting anyone or even being armed and that after he “heard a shot” the driver jumped out of the car and began shooting into the backseat.
On May 1, a resource officer at Atrisco Heritage High School called police to say Martinez and Cordero had been overheard by an employee talking about the shooting. The employee told police he heard Cordero say he “saw (Patterson’s) brain splatter” during the slaying, that Martinez also got shot and Cordero’s father told him “not to say anything” about the incident.