APD gives updates, IDs in multiple homicides

One recent fatal shooting being investigated as self-defense, police say

The Albuquerque Police Department has released the names of victims and additional details in multiple homicides.

APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said one has been deemed justified and another death has been deemed a homicide.

There have been 19 homicides this year and three reported arrests. By this time last year, there had been 10 homicides.

Gallegos said the Feb. 2 death of Ruben Parra, 39, in a Southeast Albuquerque neighborhood is being looked at as a selfdefense shooting.

Police detained the shooter at the scene, a few blocks from Central and Southern SE.

“It is not being considered a homicide for reporting purposes, pending further investigation,” Gallegos said Saturday.

Gallegos said the Feb. 8 death of Selena Belin, 22, in Northeast Albuquerque is now being investigated as a homicide.

He said Belin’s death occurred near Osuna and San Pedro NE but gave no other details.

In the update, Gallegos also identified David Gracia-Dominguez, 42, Mario Delgado Jr., 47, and Theodore Smith, 61, as three victims who had not been named before .

On Jan. 18 around 6:30 a.m., police responding to a gunshot detection device found GraciaDominguez dead in the area of Rhode Island and Chico NE.

More recently, on Wednesday night, police responding to reports of a deceased person found Delgado Jr. “with trauma” in his home near Wyoming and Zuni SE.

The next morning, police responded to a home near San Pedro and San Francisco NE after a man found his brother, Smith, unconscious on the floor.

Smith was pronounced dead at the scene, where police found “very suspicious circumstances.”