A teenager has been arrested and charged in the fatal shooting of his mother’s boyfriend in New Mexico. He was reportedly upset, as his mom was doing drugs with the man.
Albuquerque police arrived at an apartment at 1100 Coal Avenue SW at around 3 p.m. (local time) on Dec. 17 and found the victim, identified as 39-year-old Cedric Garcia-Guzman, shot twice in the stomach. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to KOB4.
Investigators checked the surveillance footage captured by the residence’s ring camera and saw a man knocking on Garcia-Guzman’s door. He answered the door and then quickly closed it.
Moments later, another man entered the frame and kicked Garcia-Guzman’s door multiple times. Garcia-Guzman opened the door and engaged in a heated argument with the person on the opposite side. Garcia-Guzman appeared to have spat on the said man, who then shot him through his sweatshirt, police said, as per the outlet.
After the shooting, the two men were seen walking back to their vehicle and driving off.
Rubiane Valdez-Barela, Garcia-Guzman’s girlfriend, identified the two men in the surveillance video as her 17-year-old son Ruben Benavidez and her son’s father, Albuquerque Journal reported. She told police she was asleep in the apartment at the time of the shooting.
Based on the investigation, detectives tracked the suspect at an apartment complex near 2900 Lexington Street and arrested him, police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said in a news release, according to the outlet.
Garcia-Guzman’s sister told police he was experiencing problems with Benavidez. The son was upset because Garcia-Guzman was using drugs with his mother, court records reportedly indicated.
In an interrogation, Benavidez’s father, whose identity was not revealed, told police they went to Garcia-Guzman’s residence to ask Valdez-Barela to return home and stop doing drugs. He added her children hadn’t seen their mother in over a week and were angry with her, KOB4 reported.
Benavidez’s father also informed cops that Garcia-Guzman spat in Benavidez’s face before the shooting, adding that when he heard gunshots, he initially assumed it was Garcia-Guzman who fired a gun.
Police located the vehicle seen on surveillance footage. It belonged to Benavidez’s father.
Benavidez was charged with an open count of murder and tampering with evidence and booked into the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center.