Teenage girl charged with murder
Police said Friday they’ve arrested a teenage girl who they say set up a robbery that ended with a man fatally shot in the head in front of his teenage son outside an Albuquerque fast-food restaurant a few weeks ago. Rebecah Banuelos, 17, is charged with an open count of murder and robbery in the shooting of 39-year-old Christopher Salazar, who died at the hospital several days later.
Police say Banuelos and two men tried to rob Salazar’s son, with one of the men shooting Salazar in the head, over $50 worth of marijuana at the McDonald’s at 12th and Indian School NW on Aug. 30.
Officers responded to the shooting in the parking lot around 7 p.m. and found Salazar inside a Chevy Tahoe, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Salazar was taken to the hospital where he later died.
Salazar’s son, who was in the Tahoe at the time of the shooting, told police Banuelos had sent him a message over SnapChat earlier in the day asking for $50 worth of marijuana.
Police say the son asked his father for a ride to meet Banuelos, who was waiting in a white car with two men outside the McDonald’s.
The son told police Banuelos walked up to the window and the driver of the white car pulled behind the SUV, blocking them in.
Police say that’s when the driver, who is not identified, got out of the car and held Salazar at gunpoint.
Salazar’s son told police his father grabbed his own gun and pointed it at the driver.
Police say the driver fired several shots at Salazar, hitting him in the head, and into the SUV before he and Banuelos fled in the white car.