Sept. 28—Police say a man angry at not being allowed into an apartment in Southeast Albuquerque late last month opened fire on the building, killing a woman inside.
Houston Coate, 33, is charged with murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, shooting into an occupied building and possession of a firearm by a felon in the Aug. 29 death of a woman who has not been identified.
Coate was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Friday. Online court records make it unclear who his attorney is.
Officers responded to a shooting at an apartment in the 1000 block of Valencia SE, near San Mateo and Gibson, around 6:45 p.m., according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Police found the woman had been shot in the head with a nearby cell phone that had a bullet hole through it.
Police said they found five .40 caliber shell casings in the courtyard outside the apartment. Witnesses told officers that a man came banging on the door asking for his things, then started shooting when no one would let him in.
One man told police the gunman had gone by “Houston” and stolen a .40-caliber handgun from the apartment days earlier, the complaint said. The man said “Houston” left a bag in the apartment and returned for it on the day of the shooting.
Police said the man identified Coate as the shooter in a photo and told officers he saw him through the peephole before the gunfire.
Detectives reviewed surveillance footage of the shooter and found he matched Coate’s physical description, including tattoos on his right arm, the complaint said.
