Two teenage boys in Albuquerque are facing murder charges after police say they set up a drug deal to rob the victim.
Police spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said Friday that a 14-year-old and 15-year-old were arrested in the July 4 killing of Alana Gamboa.
They were both booked into the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center. The 15-year-old is charged with one count each of murder, robbery and evidence tampering, according to a criminal complaint filed in court. The 14-year-old faces the same charges, Gallegos said.
The Associated Press does not generally identify juvenile crime suspects.
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According to investigators, Gamboa and one of the teens had been chatting via social media and agreed to meet so he could buy mushrooms and marijuana vape pens.
The victim was sitting in her car around 12:35 a.m. and reaching for a gun when she was shot. Gamboa died by the time authorities got to the scene.
Two teenage boys, ages 14 and 15, allegedly killed a woman after setting up a drug deal to rob her.
Gallegos said detectives used social media conversations, witness statements and surveillance video to identify one of the boys as a juvenile who was on supervised probation.
They located him Thursday at an apartment complex, where the second teen suspect was also present and admitted to shooting Gamboa.
The investigation into Gamboa’s death is ongoing.
The arrests come a day after a 13-year-old Albuquerque boy was charged with murder and other counts in the shooting of a different woman. She allegedly confronted him and other teens who were riding around in her vehicle, which had been stolen days earlier.
The suspect in that case made his first court appearance Friday and was ordered held pending trial. His public defender, David Richter, acknowledged the allegations were upsetting for the community.
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“We try to make sense of what happened, and we question what in our society makes this possible,” he said in a statement. “What we find when we ask these questions is more tragedy and sadness and systemic failures. What we also find is that children are fundamentally different than adults. Their brains aren’t fully developed. They are impulsive and reactive in ways that we can’t put our adult framework on.”
___ This story has been corrected to show that Gilbert Gallegos is a civilian spokesperson, not a sergeant.