Family of slain Taos woman holds vigil
TAOS — Ten years ago, then-15-yearold Joaquin Reyes sat in anguish beside his mother, Shirley Reyes, inside their home on La Luz Drive in Taos. His little brother, Alejandro Reyes, who was 8, nervously paced back and forth.
They were speaking over the phone to the boys’ father, Julio Reyes, who was in prison awaiting deportation to Mexico after having lived — undocumented — in Taos for all but eight of his 55 years.
Now, at 26 years old, Joaquin Reyes finds himself in the same house, distraught and experiencing new levels of grief. This time his mom isn’t there to comfort him or his siblings, Martin Gutierrez and Claudia Gutierrez.
Their mother, Shirley Reyes, was shot to death inside the La Luz Drive home in Taos on Wednesday, and three teenage boys were charged this week in connection to the fatal attack. Their 19-year-old brother Alejandro Reyes was shot in the arm.
At a candlelight vigil held outside their home late Friday night, Shirley Reyes’ children invited The Taos News past the makeshift memorial at the gate to their mother’s driveway, past the fire pit surrounded by Shirley Reyes small grandchildren, and inside the house where their mother was killed.
Claudia Gutierrez, holding one of Shirley Reyes’ journals and reading sections of text out loud, said her mother had been preoccupied with the thought that something terrible was going to happen to her or her family.
“Look, she knew,” Claudia Gutierrez said. “She was begging for protection.”
Alejandro Reyes was shot in the arm in the attack but escaped to a neighbor’s house and was eventually airlifted to a hospital outside of Taos County. According to Martin Gutierrez, Reyes is being held in “protective custody” by authorities while receiving treatment for his injuries.
“They won’t even tell us if he’s at the hospital,” he said. “He’s in protection. They want Alejandro’s witness statement to be given to an officer before he talks to anyone else.”
At Friday’s vigil, Shirley Reyes’ children, as well as her many young grandchildren, shared photos and memories of “Gramma Gaga,” as she was known to her 8,265 TikTok followers. No one at the vigil said they were sure exactly what motivated the attack, but Martin Gutierrez said he suspects Alejandro Reyes was the target “of revenge,” adding he believes his mom was “collateral damage.
“This situation would never have happened if the state hadn’t taken my dad away,” Joaquin Reyes said, standing in the bloodstained hallway that leads to his late mother’s bedroom. He said his mother appears to have died in her bed after at least two of the assailants entered the home, fatally shooting her and seriously wounding Alejandro Reyes.
“My dad’s hurting right now,” Joaquin Reyes added. He said his father is “trying to get a pardon to come in the country right now. He might not be let in.”
New Mexico State Police arrested Elijah Hamilton and Rickey Fresquez, both 14, and Javier Romero, 16, last week, charging them with first-degree murder and other felonies in connection with the shooting. But Shirley Reyes’ children said they believe, based on what Alejandro Reyes supposedly told the neighbor whose door he ran to for help, that he named one or two additional male attackers “before he passed out.”
The Taos News reached out to New Mexico State Police on Saturday to ask about any suspected motive for the attack and whether authorities are seeking any other individuals in connection with the incident but didn’t hear back immediately.