Police ID man killed at apartment
No charges have been filed in Friday’s fatal shooting
Police have identified the man shot and killed in an apartment complex in the foothills last Friday as 24-year-old Zachary Sais.
But they have not identified the man who they say shot him. That man has not been charged and the case has been turned over to the District Attorney’s Office for review, said officer Simon Drobik, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department.
Drobik said the shooting occurred when Sais went over to his ex-girlfriend’s home in the Sandia Vista apartment complex on Tramway south of Lomas and was met by
her new boyfriend.
“It was a domestic incident between the old boyfriend and the new boyfriend,” he said. “From what I understand there was a weapon involved and the old boyfriend received at least one gunshot wound and was pronounced deceased.”
Drobik said he did not know which man brought the gun to the scene.
Officers were called to the complex shortly after 5 a.m. Friday where they found Sais dead on the first floor of a stairwell outside of an apartment. Another police department spokesman said last week that detectives took three people, including the shooter, into custody for questioning and he was cooperating with the investigation.
When asked if detectives are considering the shooting self-defense, Drobik said “based on someone not being charged that night, it’s probably leaning that way yes.”
Drobik said he did not know the shooter’s name, and he had still not released it Monday night.
Court records show Sais had a history of domestic violence with the woman who lived in that apartment and has a 3-year-old son with her. In 2015, he was arrested and charged with felony kidnapping, aggravated battery and other crimes after police say he chased her through a parking lot with a tire iron and dragged her into his pickup truck while she was holding their child. According to a criminal complaint, Sais eventually dropped the woman off at his parents’ house and they were able to intervene.
The woman filed a restraining order against Sais after the incident but it was dismissed when she didn’t appear at the hearing. The domestic violence case against him was also dismissed, although it could have been refiled.