NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Valencia County Sheriff’s deputies and New Mexico State Police are investigating a fatal shooting that happened near Los Lunas Friday afternoon. The shooting happened near Meadowlake Road and Navajo Lane around 3:00 p.m.

According to Lt. Joseph Rowland with the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement responded to a call of shots fired at an abandoned home on Navajo Lane. After they arrived, they found two people dead inside the home. The deceased were identified Saturday night as 20-year-old Erik Verto Rodriguez and his brother, 23-year-old Roque Alejandro Rodriguez of Los Lunas.

Witnesses told police they saw three men enter the home prior to shots being fired. “What I first thought is it sounded like somebody working on metal, banging on something a few times. But it kept going, so my second thought was it sounded like gunshots. Around here, it’s kind of, you kind of hear it pretty frequent, gunshots,” said Salvador Espindola, who lives nearby.

Shortly after that, one male subject was seen leaving the house in a dark-colored sedan. Officials say investigators believe the man leaving the house appeared to have been injured.

The Valencia County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public’s help in locating the vehicle which left the scene, as well as the driver. Police say the vehicle is a dark-in-color sedan with the hood and portions of the front end painted with primer. The license plate was described as being white, which is similar to the Texas license plate, or a temporary New Mexico registration tag. Anyone with information is asked to call Lead Detective David Zilink at 505-865-2039.

Latest New Mexico News