Man shot weeks ago dies
Teen arrested in case could face more severe charges
Hunter Woods, the 16-year-old Santa Fe teen accused of shooting his mother’s boyfriend in April, may be facing more serious charges after police said the victim, 39-year-old Ricardo Magana, died of his wounds Sunday.
Deputy Chief Ben Valdez said in a news release that representatives from the University of New Mexico Hospital, where Magana was receiving treatment, told the police department Magana died Sunday around 3 a.m.
“An autopsy is forthcoming to confirm if Mr. Magana’s death was the result of injuries sustained from the shooting, at which time a determination regarding charges against Hunter Woods will be made,” Valdez said in the statement.
Police arrested Woods on May 7, about a week after the shooting. Woods’
mother told police Magana tried to attack her with a bat and that her son intervened, firing a warning shot from a shotgun before shooting a second round that hit Magana.
Police officers found Magana bleeding from the abdomen in the doorway of the Lorca Drive residence.
Woods fled in his mother’s car and remained at large until police arrested him in the Zafarano Drive retail complex.
While on the run, Woods became a suspect in two more shootings in Santa Fe, though no one was reported injured in
either incident. Those shootings took place May 1 on the south side of the city. In both cases, witnesses described the gunman as riding in a vehicle similar to the one Woods took from his mother.
Working on a tip, police arrested Woods when he was found as a passenger in a Volkswagen Jetta driven by another man, 19-year-old Jesus RonquillaAvita. A detective found a Ruger
.380-caliber handgun on the floorboard of the passenger side of that vehicle, as well as miscellaneous “narcotics and paraphernalia” in the car, according to a search warrant issued May 9.
At that time, police charged Woods with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and tampering with evidence and booked him into the Santa Fe County Juvenile Detention Center, where he remains.