Shootings blamed on gang rivalry
Police say suspects bragged about crimes
Three members of an Albuquerque gang — a man and two teenage boys — lured alleged rivals into drug deals before gunning them down, taking one man’s life and irrevocably changing three others, police say.
This week police arrested two of the suspects, Matthew Delena, 23, and Seven Long, who just turned 15, in the shootings of Adrian Martinez, Aneas Price and Vicente Sanchez. The shootings occurred over a two-month period.
The third suspect, a 17-yearold, is still being sought by police.
Police say Delena — along with Long and the other 17-year-old suspect — used a fake Facebook account to lure the victims into a drug deal with the intent of killing them over gang retaliation or rivalry. Afterward, detectives found a surplus of evidence on social media, where the three suspects often bragged about
the shootings, discussed their alibis and even shared videos of a shooting and the vehicle they used that was full of bullet holes.
The string of shootings unfolded across northeast Albuquerque, and although police say the suspects were shooting to kill, they only succeeded with Martinez, 17. Price, 16, was left permanently blind after being shot in the head, and Sanchez, whose age is unknown, is paralyzed from several gunshot wounds.
A bystander, Paul Shea, also suffered a traumatic brain injury after being crushed by an SUV he was working under when the wounded Price crashed into it.
Albuquerque police spokesman Simon Drobik said all three are in the hospital with a “grim outlook.”
He said police believe the suspects may have committed two additional shootings, but detectives are not releasing any information on those except to say they were not fatal.
Delena was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center Monday night and is charged with an open count of murder, two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, two counts of tampering with evidence and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Police say all three suspects were members of an Albuquerque gang and that the shootings were gang-related. But court documents do not describe the victims as members of specific gangs.
Long, who was arrested and booked into the juvenile detention center on his 15th birthday, faces a slew of charges, including an open count of murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery resulting in great bodily harm and shooting at or from a motor vehicle.
The shootings began the night of Aug. 22 when Price was shot in the parking lot of the Sandia Vista apartments, near Tramway and Copper.
According to court documents, Delena set up a drug deal at the apartment complex and to shoot the man when he showed up.
Police say that, when Price pulled up instead of that man, Long put a bullet “straight through” Price’s skull and left him permanently blind.
After Price was shot, he crashed his car into an SUV, which pinned a bystander named Paul Shea between the two vehicles and severely injured him.
A confidential informant told police Delena wanted to kill Price because he was a member of a rival gang and Long admitted shooting him in the head.
Police say the trio hit their next target around 9 p.m. on Sept. 9, shooting Martinez to death at the corner of Marble and Monroe.
According to court documents, Delena, Long and the other suspect each shot Martinez when he met them to buy $40 worth of marijuana.
Police say Delena wanted to kill Martinez as retaliation for a drug deal that went bad in December 2017 and resulted in a gunfight and car chase.
Martinez’s mother told police her son asked her to borrow the car because he “felt uneasy” about the meeting and she heard a “loud bang” soon after he left the house.
Police say Martinez had been shot with three different guns and was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to the complaint, Delena afterward shared a video of the shooting over Facebook in which footsteps and gunshots can be heard before the suspects are heard yelling — including Long “excitedly” crying out about shooting Martinez in the head.
The third shooting erupted the night of Sept. 14 in the Whole Foods parking lot, at Carlisle and Indian School, when Delena set up a drug deal with Sanchez.
Police say Delena and the other suspect met Sanchez in the parking lot before Delena shot Sanchez several times “execution style,” leaving him paralyzed.
According to the complaint, the trio learned Sanchez had survived the shooting and Long offered to “end him” over Facebook messenger.
Police say they also found Facebook video of Delena talking about shooting Sanchez and showing off the bullet holes in the vehicle he used.
According to the complaint, the suspects used Delena’s vehicle in all three shootings and Delena had spray-painted it different colors in between two of the shootings.
A confidential informant told police where to find Delena’s vehicle after detectives heard he was trying to sell it.
Police say they found the vehicle with three coats of paint, multiple bullet holes and bullet casings inside — including some that matched all three shootings.