Man, 22, arrested in Dec. slaying at ABQ apartment
Suspect’s 21-year-old friend found lying face down, shot several times
Detectives have arrested a man they suspect shot and killed a friend in a Northeast Albuquerque apartment in mid-December.
Sebastian Garcia, 22, is charged with murder and tampering with evidence. He has been booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center.
Prosecutors have asked that he be held pending trial. It’s unclear who his attorney will be.
On Dec. 15, officers were called to an apartment complex on Aztec near Carlisle and Comanche NE because 21-year-old Darin Gonzales had been found lying face down in the hallway of his home. He had been shot multiple times.
A friend told detectives one of Gonzales’ guns was missing and another friend named “Bash” Garcia had been staying at the apartment, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. The friend identified “Bash” as Sebastian Garcia.
A gold Toyota Avalon belonging to Gonzales’ girlfriend was also reported stolen.
Several days later the Toyota was found in Southwest Albuquerque. A ping of Garcia’s phone showed he had been nearby, according to the complaint.
On Monday, Garcia was found at the University of New Mexico Hospital. He was taken into custody on two outstanding felony arrest warrants.
Garcia said he was worried about his girlfriend who had shot herself the night before. An Albuquerque Police Department spokesman said the girlfriend apparently accidentally shot herself in the foot.
When detectives interviewed Garcia he told them he met Gonzales when they were much younger and the two reconnected when Garcia was released from jail in July.
He said in early December he borrowed an AR-15 rifle from Gonzales — using a spare key to go into his apartment and take it while Gonzales wasn’t there — and when Gonzales asked for it back and threatened to come get it he decided to return it to him in person.
The two then “did drugs for six consecutive days,” according to the complaint. Garcia told investigators he and Gonzales smoked methamphetamine the night before the shooting and they both were very high and “seeing things at times.” That’s when, Garcia said, Gonzales brought up the AR-15 and accused him of planning to run off with it.
“Sebastian noticed Darin suddenly walk from one side of the kitchen table toward the other side where the gun (lay),” the detective wrote in the complaint. “It was at that point, Sebastian said he felt scared to take that chance of Darin getting the gun and shooting him, so he pulled out a handgun from his waistband and shot Darin multiple times. Sebastian described shooting Darin as he fell to the floor in the living room but continued to shoot him as Darin was moving in the direction of the bedroom.”
He said he was scared Gonzales was going to get firearms from his room.
Garcia said he then grabbed the keys to the Toyota and Gonzales’ gun and left the apartment.