APD charges 4 teens for drive-by shooting death of 5-year-old girl
ALBUQUERQUE – APD detectives charged four teen-agers for the Aug. 13, 2023, drive-by shooting that resulted in the death of a 5-year-old girl who was sleeping inside a trailer in Southwest Albuquerque.
Homicide detectives secured arrest warrants on Friday that charge the four teens for the murder. Detectives arrested two of the four teens; two others are wanted by police.
Detectives determined through investigation that the teens were occupants in two, stolen Kia Soul vehicles that entered the Vista Del Sol mobile home park around 5:48 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 13. Several gunshots were fired from at least one of the vehicles toward a trailer located at 2718 Paseo del Canto Dr. S.W. An APD ShotSpotter alert indicated 8 shots were fired in the area. Five-year-old Galilea Samaniego was sleeping with her two sisters in a bedroom on the west-facing side of the trailer. She was struck in the head by a bullet. She was transported to a local hospital where she died as a result of her wound.
Video surveillance from neighboring homes showed the two vehicles flee the mobile home park at a high rate of speed. Officers learned the elderly homeowner lived in the trailer with her teen-age grandson. She was babysitting Samaniego, her two sisters and a fourth child when the shooting occurred.
Detectives learned that the teen-age grandson who lived at the trailer had been in an on-going altercation with one of the suspects that started when they were in middle school. The dispute over a girl escalated in recent months, allegedly resulting in drive-by shootings between the two teens and several friends.
Four minutes after the shooting at the trailer park, a second drive-by shooting occurred in a nearby neighborhood at 1801 Delgado Dr., S.W. The homeowner, his wife and 4-year-old son at that home escaped injury in that shooting, which was the second drive-by they experienced in recent weeks. The residents told officers they had video surveillance that showed two Kia Soul vehicles slowly approach the home before shots were fired from both vehicles. A ShotSpotter activation indicated between 24-26 gunshots were detected.
Police quickly determined the drive-by shootings at the mobile home park and the home at 1801 Delgado Dr. were likely related because of family relations. The teen living at the mobile home park later told police he was friends with two teens associated with the home on Delgado Dr., and he said they were being targeted because of his dispute with the suspect.
As homicide detectives investigated the shooting, they learned that the bullet casing from the scene of the shooting at the mobile home park matched a shooting from November 2022 involving several teens, including two of the suspects from last week’s murder. APD is working with the ATF to investigate the guns, ammunition and bullet casings used in these shootings.
Detectives also searched for stolen Kia Soul vehicles and tracked down the owners of two vehicles stolen from separate West Side apartment complexes the night before the shootings. Detectives located one of the vehicles Monday evening at a West Side address discovered using GPS from the vehicle. Investigators discovered two bullet casings outside of the windshield. The car was sealed and towed, and after obtaining a search warrant, additional bullet casings were found inside. Residents living in the neighborhood where the stolen vehicle was abandoned told detectives they saw a red SUV pick up the boys who were in the Kia Soul. Another neighbor said the Kia Soul was abandoned in the parking lot sometime between 6:30 and 7 a.m. on Sunday, within an hour of the shootings.
The second, stolen Kia Soul was also discovered Monday by deputies with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office. The vehicle had been intentionally set on fire on the far West Mesa.
Detectives learned through video surveillance that a red Dodge Nitro was used to pick up the teens who were in the stolen Kia Soul vehicles. They used APD License Plate Readers to locate the suspect vehicle and APD’s Digital Intelligence Team located social media to help identify the suspects. Detectives used the information to obtain a search warrant for the home of one of the suspects, who they detained on Thursday for questioning.
Detectives obtained additional information from their interview, which along with the evidence gathered during the investigation, led to four arrest warrants signed by a judge on Friday.
All four teens are charged with an open count of murder, conspiracy, shooting at a dwelling or occupied building, shooting at or from a motor vehicle, and unlawful taking of a motor vehicle.
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