Two people were arrested on Thursday in connection to the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy, whose death prompted Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) to ban firearm carry in Albuquerque.
Jose Romero, 22, and Nathen Garley, 21, are in custody in connection to the Sept. 6 shooting that left Froylan Williams dead and his cousin, Tatiana Villegas, paralyzed from the waist down. Police Chief Harold Medina said at a news conference on Thursday that the shooting appeared to be a case of mistaken identity.
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The shooting, combined with other recent acts of gun violence across New Mexico, prompted Lujan Grisham to issue a 30-day ban on the right to carry firearms in public across the state capital and surrounding county, a move that angered Second Amendment supporters and Republicans for what they claim infringes on the right to bear arms.
The Democratic governor announced a narrower public health order that banned the carry of guns at parks and playgrounds in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, replacing the original broad order.
“I’m going to continue pushing to make sure that all of us are using every resource available to put an end to this public health emergency with the urgency it deserves,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement announcing the ban. “I will not accept the status quo — enough is enough.”
Romero was taken into custody on Thursday evening after being wanted for failing to appear in court on a separate charge connected to drug dealing, Medina said. Garley was already in custody after being stopped by officers on Sept. 13. Police found a gun and about 100,000 tablets in the car, State Police Chief W. Troy Weisler said at the news conference.
Police said the two men, believed to be gang members, pulled up in a car next to a pickup truck and opened fire at the Isotopes Stadium. More than a dozen shots were fired.
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Gallegos said Romero and Garley had a feud with another man and argued with him during the baseball game. Police originally believed the incident was attributed to road rage before discovering it was a case of “mistaken identity.”
“It is our belief that these cowards mixed up the two vehicles and shot into the wrong vehicle,” the police chief said, adding that the pickup truck with Williams inside resembled the truck of the intended target.
