Oct. 13 – Another man linked to a fatal 2018 shooting on the West Side was recently arrested.
Brandon Mendez, 24, of Albuquerque, is charged with open murder of 42-year-old Adrian Johnson, March 16, 2018. Mendez is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center. His lawyer could not be reached for comment.
Police arrested Toure Britt, 25, on September 27, while law enforcement officers in Arizona arrested Kevin Geier, 40. They are both accused of open murder.
Mendez was arrested Wednesday, according to court records.
Prosecutors filed a motion to keep Mendez behind bars until trial, saying Mendez and Geier “communicated before and after the murder.” According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, police — who were able to identify Mendez in a motor vehicle division photo — said the suspect was in a stolen vehicle at the time of the shooting before fleeing with Geier and Britt.
“It is apparent that Defendant Brandon Mendez was at the scene of the murder,” the motion said. “He drove the vehicle away after the victim was shot and killed. He conspired with several others to end the victim’s life – something that might not have happened if he had acted alone. The inference is also clear that the suspect knew the plan was to kill the victim.”
On March 16, 2018 at 6:50 PM, Albuquerque Police responded to a call of a homicide in the 2600 block of Americare Court NW, near Coors. The complaint states that when officers arrived, they saw a man – later identified as Johnson – lying in a pool of blood in a parking lot. The Office of the Medical Examiner told police that Johnson had been shot in the head.
Witnesses told officers they heard two gunshots and saw a Ford Excursion with a Mexico license plate, which police said was stolen. Officers later found the vehicle burned in the mesas west of Rio Rancho.
The SUV’s owner told police the vehicle had been stolen from outside his workplace and that a revolver was inside at the time, the complaint said. Detectives followed leads until November 2019, when a man in jail told police he knew who killed Johnson. Police said the inmate wanted a deal for a lower sentence for his criminal case in exchange for cooperation in solving Johnson’s murder. But no deal was made.
No other investigative work was documented until May of this year, when the same inmate — locked up for car theft — again offered investigators information for a deal, the complaint said. Detectives sat down with him after verifying the details with other witnesses and through phone records.
The complaint states that the inmate told police that a third person, “possibly named Brandon,” remained in the car during the shooting.
Police said the inmate told them it all started when Johnson asked Geier and Britt to back him up in a fight. However, the inmate told police that Geier and Britt’s plan “was to kill Adrian.” He told police he was with Britt and Geier when they took Johnson in the stolen SUV to the back of an apartment complex and shot Johnson, the complaint said.
According to the complaint, Mendez and Geier exchanged text messages on March 23, 2018.
“By Toures,” Mendez said.
“Hell you and I are hurting man,” Geier replied.
