ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The man who killed another driver over a fender bender, was found guilty by a jury today. Adelio Gallegos was arrested in 2021 after he shot a man in the parking lot of a medical clinic. 

Nearly two years after a deadly shooting outside an Albuquerque medical clinic, 43-year-old Adelio Gallegos was found guilty of murder. According to a criminal complaint, 65-year-old Mike Guerra backed into Gallegos’ car in the parking lot of the clinic near San Mateo and Central. 

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State attorneys said Guerra had just been released after testing positive for COVID and was planning to quarantine, but while pulling out of his parking space, he backed into another car. 

Guerra tried to drive away, but the other driver, Gallegos, confronted him and the two started arguing. Gallegos then grabbed a rifle from his car and shot Guerra to death. 

“What the state believes that the evidence will show, is that this defendant was mad. He was angry,” said state attorney, Christine Joyce Jablonsky. 

Throughout the week, the judge heard witness testimony and evidence claiming Gallegos even tried hiding the rifle from police. Gallegos’ attorneys argued he didn’t intend to hurt Guerra, and said Gallegos grabbed his rifle to intimidate Guerra because he wouldn’t share his insurance information. 

“It was all a terrible, terrible accident…He did get his gun. Not to shoot the guy but just to scare him,” said defense attorney, Keren H. Fenderson. 

However, that wasn’t enough for the jury to let him off the hook, returning a verdict of guilty for first-degree murder. Gallegos is scheduled for sentencing in October.