Copyright © 2022
Detectives have charged a group of young men they say showed up at a party in a West Side apartment around Halloween, attempted to rob one man of his shoes and then shot his brother in the face.
Marcus Rowe, 18 (MDC)
The brother was injured but survived.
Thomas Acee, 18, was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Wednesday. He is charged with shooting at a dwelling with great bodily injury and attempted armed robbery. Marcus Rowe, also 18, has been in jail since mid-November on other charges and was charged in the shooting on Tuesday. Isaiah Flores – who the victim reportedly identified as the shooter – has not been booked into jail.
The fourth member of the group, Johnny Lopez, is a juvenile so an Albuquerque Police Department spokeswoman said she cannot provide information about him.
Rebecca Atkins, the APD spokeswoman, said the group is also linked to another shooting at a party around the same time on Fountain NW where four people were shot in the legs and gunfire struck several homes and vehicles in the neighborhood. No one has been charged in that incident.
On Nov. 1, detectives were called to the University of New Mexico Hospital to interview Martin Trujillo, who had been shot in the face during a party at an apartment on Montaño and Coors NW.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, Trujillo’s brother told detectives they were at the party when four or six men walked in and one of them walked up to him and said he wanted his shoes. He said the man pointed to an AR-style rifle at him and then “everyone pushed the group out and then the shooting happened.” He said he did not see who was actually shooting but the man with the rifle was called “Flo.” Trujillo identified 25-year-old Flores as “Flo.”
Detectives interviewed Flores, Acee and Lopez and reviewed posts on Instagram and determined the three men and Rowe participated in the shooting. They determined Acee and Lopez tried to take Padilla’s shoes, according to the complaint.
When the detective asked Acee if it is a “normal thing” for people to be at a party with an AK-47, he said Acee replied “This is Albuquerque.”
The complaint notes that the same caliber casings as the gun Flores was reportedly using were found at a shooting at a house on Fountain, near McMahon and Unser NW, that had happened a day or so earlier.
Acee is the son of FBI Special Agent Bryan Acee, who has worked and tested in many high-profile cases.
When asked about the connection, and whether the FBI has assisted APD in investigating the group, spokesman Frank Fisher said the agency does not confirm the identities of its employees to ensure their safety.
“Generally speaking, the FBI would cooperate with other law enforcement agencies in any case involving our personnel or their families,” Fisher wrote in an email. “We have no further comment at this time.”
Thomas Acee, 18 (MDC)
Atkins said the shooting at the apartment complex party was investigated by APD and “detectives have communicated with (the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office) about related investigations without involvement from the FBI.”
Acee had been picked up a couple of days after the shootings on a warrant out of California for being a minor in possession of a firearm. Authorities in San Diego declined to extradite him.
Rowe, Acee and a 17-year-old whose name has not been released were identified as suspects in the Oct. 11 shooting the caused more than $500,000 worth of damage to the Bernalillo County headquarters at Alvarado Square, although only Rowe and 20-year-old Noah Tapia have been charged in connection with that case.
Rowe and another man have also been charged in the near-deadly beating of a homeless man he suspected of breaking into a car. That man lost the ability to hear out of one ear, had to have his jaw wired shut, and was sent out of state to be treated for a brain injury, according to a criminal complaint. His mother told detectives his carotid artery had been damaged, putting him in danger of having lasting side effects, including blindness or a stroke.
Comments are closed.