Two men charged in 2018 robbery-turned-homicide
One arrested in Alabama, second suspect still being sought
Detectives have charged two men in a 2018 robbery that ended with a father being shot to death in front of his son in Albuquerque’s North Valley.
Deshawn Hall, 26, and Breon Humphrey-Sallings, 24, were each charged with an open count of murder, attempted robbery and conspiracy in the Aug. 30, 2018, death of 39-yearold Christopher Salazar.
Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque police spokesman, said Humphrey-Sallings was arrested last month in an unrelated homicide in Huntsville, Alabama.
He said homicide detectives went to Alabama to speak with Humphrey-Sallings about Salazar’s slaying but he “declined to answer questions.”
Meanwhile, Gallegos said police are looking for Hall.
A few weeks after Salazar’s death, Rebecah Banuelos, who was 17 at the time, was charged with an open count of murder and robbery in the case.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court:
Officers responded around 9 p.m. to the shooting in the parking lot of a McDonald’s at 12th and Indian School NW. They found Salazar, his son and a friend inside a Chevy Tahoe.
Salazar had been shot in the head and died several days later in the hospital.
Salazar’s son told police Banuelos, an old classmate, asked him for $50 worth of marijuana over Snapchat. The son said he asked his father for a ride to meet Banuelos outside the fast-food restaurant.
The son told police Banuelos showed up
in a car with two men and the driver ordered his father out of the SUV at gunpoint. The son said his father pulled out his own gun and pointed it at the driver, who shot him in the head.
After her arrest, Banuelos refused to speak with police but, in September 2019, she spoke with detectives.
Banuelos told police she met Humphrey-Sallings on Tinder in June 2018 and the two began a relationship.
She said she met Hall, his roommate, and the two men told her to set up drug deals with her friends over social media so they could rob them.
Banuelos told police the trio did four such robberies before setting up Salazar’s son. She said she walked up to Salazar’s SUV as Humphrey-Sallings blocked him in with the car and Hall got out of the backseat with a pistol.
Banuelos told police Hall pointed the gun at Salazar, who drew his own gun, and shot him. She said as they fled Hall was “yelling and apologizing” to Humphrey-Sallings.