Family feels APD was not responsive to concerns

From the beginning, the family of Andres Loera felt a disconnect from the Albuquerque Police Department.

Loera was fatally shot on Feb. 13, 2020, and the case sat unsolved for months until, in October, APD handed it over to the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

During the APD investigation, Joseline Loera, the victim’s sister, said the family had “no communication” from police. After a month of silence, the family demanded a meeting with then-APD Chief Michael Geier, Homicide Unit Sgt. Rick Ingram and the detective.

She said every question was met with “it’s under investigation” but APD apologized for the lack of communication. They promised to do better, but Joseline Loera said her family heard nothing from July to November.

That’s when Kyle Hartsock, special agent in charge of the DA’s Special Investigations Bureau, asked to meet the family.

When he arrived, he wanted to know about Andres Loera, one of seven siblings.

“I wasn’t prepared for that. I was taken aback that they were that interested in who he was,” Joseline Loera said. “I didn’t get that feeling from APD.”

“We walked out of there and it was like a weight was lifted off of our shoulders,” she said. “We dismissed all of the negative experience that we had with APD.”

She said Hartsock hung a picture of Loera in the DA’s office. He kept in constant communication and even got the family a Christmas ornament. She said they no longer felt the need to ask for updates and were “OK” with waiting.

On Friday afternoon, the DA’s Office announced it had charged four people in Loera’s death. DA Raúl Torrez and APD Interim Chief Harold Medina met with the family. Joseline Loera said her mother gave Medina an earful. He listened intently and gave them his number.

In announcing the charges, Torrez acknowledged that Loera had been trying to sell marijuana when he was killed, but he stressed that his life matters just as much as other victims, and the case deserves the same commitment as highprofile cases.

“He is a young person who ended up in a situation because of some bad choices he made in his life but that doesn’t mean his life didn’t have value, and if we are going to be forthright and honest about what is really going on ... and who is dying in the streets of Albuquerque we have to take every one of those lives as meaningful and important,” Torrez said.

Joseline Loera said she’s glad the waiting is over but nothing can fill the space her brother left.