ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Footage from a deadly fight caught on camera has been obtained by KRQE News 13. It shows the chaos outside an apartment complex that ended with an Albuquerque father shot to death.
More than a half dozen people were involved in the fight near Montgomery and San Pedro. Police say it all started when 25-year-old Michael Koester came home to find his roommate’s two teenage daughters and another girl getting intimate with a 15-year-old boy. According to witnesses, Koester dragged the boy outside and the teen called his family.
In the video, family members begin to show up, including the boy’s father, Raul Gallegos. A shirtless man, identified as Koester, threw Gallegos, also shirtless, to the ground. Other members of the group jump in and out of the fray as another fight between two women continues in the background.
At some point, Koester gets ahold of a gun, though it is not clear where it came from. In the video, a round can be heard being racked into the chamber just before Gallegos starts to back away. Koester can be seen raising the gun toward Gallegos and shots are heard. Gallegos was hit three times in the chest and died.
Koester’s girlfriend told police she brought the gun out after overhearing the teen telling his family on the phone to bring their guns. While she was involved in the fight, she says she realized it was no longer holstered on her hip. Koester is out of jail awaiting trial on second-degree murder charges.
