ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Four young adults are facing charges after a college student was shot in the face while driving on Central, and investigators say, she was not the intended target. According to a criminal complaint, the young woman was driving near Central and Juan Tabo last week when she was shot in the eye.
At the hospital, she told investigators she remembered seeing her broken windshield and two homeless men coming to help her, but never saw anyone shooting or driving erratically. An investigation led police to 21-year-old Christopher Rivera, 19-year-old Cesar Contreras-Diaz, 19-year-old Kylie Crooke, and 18-year-old Elora Manuelito, who Bernalillo County deputies pulled over the next day for allegedly shooting at people and houses.
When questioned Manuelito told police, Crooke – who was driving – got upset when a van cut them off. She says Rivera and Contreras-Diaz then rolled down the window and shot multiple times.
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The victim that was hit, was driving by in a completely different vehicle. The criminal complaint says Rivera initially denied remembering anything, saying he was blacked out drunk. He later told an officer, “I shot, I shot. Write that down.”
Tuesday in court, the state filed pretrial detention motions against all four defendants. “The state of New Mexico has filed a motion for pretrial detention. They are seeking to keep you in custody. I will sign an order now transferring this matter to district court,” the judge said.
Contreras-Diaz, Crooke, Manuelito, and Rivera are all charged with aggravated battery, tampering with evidence, and more.
