Nov. 10 – Santa Fe police say gun violence that broke out during arguments in two separate incidents less than a mile apart left one man dead and another injured over the weekend on the city’s southwest side.
Police were still looking for a suspect in the fatal shooting early Sunday morning.
Antonio Montejano, 24, of Santa Fe, is charged with murder in the killing of 40-year-old Albuquerque resident Rosendo Romero, who had recently lived in Santa Fe, Deputy Chief Ben Valdez announced in a news release.
Police were dispatched to the 3700 block of Camino Tierra Real around 3 a.m. Sunday after a 911 call reporting a man had been shot following an argument.
Officers and paramedics provided aid to Romero, but he died at the scene, Valdez said in the news release. According to the police, Montejano had since fled.
Hours earlier, 23-year-old Michael Thomas Te-Shawn was arrested on suspicion of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in connection with a shooting late Saturday night at the Vista Linda Apartments on Paseo del Sol.
Police were dispatched to the apartment complex around 11:30 p.m. Saturday on reports of a man with a gunshot wound, Lt. Roberto Rodriguez said in an interview Sunday.
Officers found the victim, a 20-year-old man, outside his apartment with a gunshot wound to the abdomen, Rodriguez said. He was taken to a local hospital to be treated for the injury.
Rodriguez said it appears the incident also stemmed from an argument.
The suspect in Romero’s death — later identified by detectives as Montejano — ran from the scene with a gun, Valdez’s news release said. Detectives have issued an arrest warrant for Montejano, accusing him of murder. He is considered armed and dangerous, the news release said.
Court records show that a man with the same name and age as Montejano pleaded guilty in 2019 to conspiracy to shoot at a dwelling or an occupied building.
In the years that followed, he was accused of drug possession and trafficking, as well as domestic violence, but those charges were later dismissed without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could refile them, court records show.
Romero also has a criminal past. A warrant was issued for his arrest in October after Albuquerque police accused him and an accomplice of stealing an estimated $42,000 worth of items during a home invasion.
His previous convictions include drug possession in 2020, forgery in 2019 and aggravated assault and shooting in an occupied building in 2016.
Romero’s death is at least the city’s sixth homicide in 2024, including a fatal crash in which a man is charged with vehicular homicide.
Mario Mendez, 29, of Santa Fe is suspected of beating and killing 43-year-old Monique Maes and injuring her two children near Paseo Nopal in mid-October.
Manuel Joseph Martinez, 23, faces two counts of first-degree murder and other charges following an incident in early October near the intersection of Siringo Road and Camino Consuelo. He is suspected of fatally shooting Ebony Faith Martinez, 23, and Abraham Dominic Romo, 19, in a vehicle.
Gordon Wilson, 83, of Santa Fe was fatally shot and carjacked in a busy South Side mall in early August; authorities say Zachary Babitz, 38, who is accused in his death, was released from prison in March.
James Dutte, 54, another city resident, suffered a fatal gunshot wound in May; his son, 34-year-old Zachary Dukette, was identified as the suspect.
Police are asking anyone with information about Montejano’s location to contact Detective Anthony Sweeny at 505-955-5401 or arsweeny@santafenm.gov.
Those who see Montejano are warned not to approach him but to call 911 immediately, police said.
