APD Charges Six Suspects for 2021 Murder at House Party

ALBUQUERQUE – APD detectives charged six suspects for shooting at least 200 rounds at a house party in 2021, killing 16-year-old Gabriel Garcia and injuring another teen.

Homicide detectives determined the six suspects intended to shoot someone else at the party when they fired indiscriminately into the apartment located at 500 Tennessee St., N.E. on Aug. 28, 2021. Even though they shot and killed the wrong person, the suspects joked afterward in a group text message as they determined who would take credit for the murder. One of the suspects called the murder a “team kill.”

Detectives charged the following individuals with an open count of murder, shooting at dwelling or occupied building, and conspiracy. Five of the six are in custody. One of those five, Francisco Rodriguez, turned himself in to police tonight. One suspect, Lawrence Ramirez-Casiquito, has a warrant and is not in custody.

Santos Veronica

Francisco Ramirez 

Dominic Baca

Elton Gastelum

Johnny Lopez

Lawrence Ramirez-Casiquito

Investigators worked with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives to track the bullet casings to guns used in other shooting around the same time. In one of those shootings, three people exchanged gunfire on Sept. 9, 2021, and Dominic Baca was shot. Bullet casings from the homicide were connected to firearms at another large shooting in which more than 100 shots were fired.

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