NEWS
Homicide suspect charged in nonfatal shooting
Police say suspect used SUV and gun stolen from man he killed in shooting hours later
Albuquerque police say a homicide suspect used an SUV and gun stolen from the man he killed to shoot another person within hours of the fatal stabbing.
Collin Terrazas, 43, was charged Friday with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and shooting from a vehicle in the Aug. 8 incident.
Terrazas is already behind bars in the fatal stabbing of 34-year-old Dante Conley. Terrazas is facing murder, armed robbery, evidence tampering and attempted arson charges.
Police say that after the homicide, Terrazas stole Conley鈥檚 SUV and gun and shot a man a few miles from Conley鈥檚 home.
Police said the man who was shot told police the suspect 鈥渁sked him if he wanted to shoot someone for $100 when the subject suddenly shot him.鈥 The man 鈥 listed as homeless in court records 鈥 refused to cooperate further, saying he feared retaliation.
A clear motive for both the homicide and shooting has not been released by police.
The timeline of the cases raised questions around APD鈥檚 assertion that nobody else was involved in Conley鈥檚 death, as a truck belonging to Terrazas was reportedly seen outside Conley鈥檚 home less than two hours before the shooting.
How Terrazas removed both his truck and Conley鈥檚 SUV from the scene in just a few hours without assistance is unclear. When asked, police have not said how Terrazas got back to the home.
A spokesperson for the Albuquerque Police Department did not respond to multiple questions Saturday.
The shooting
Officers responded around 6 a.m. to a shooting at Cochiti and Indiana SE and found the man shot three times, according to the complaint. They collected bullet casings from the area.
Police said video from smoke shop off Central showed a black Lexus stopped at the intersection before gunfire erupted and the man was seen running to the smoke shop, where he collapsed. Smoke shop employees told police two bystanders said the man told them 鈥渉e had paid the suspect $100, but he still got shot.鈥
鈥淚t is unknown who those bystanders were,鈥 the complaint states.
Police said they were alerted that a man, who was covered in blood and identified himself as 鈥淐ollin,鈥 went into a separate smoke shop in the area and told employees he had stabbed someone and taken their 鈥渕oney, firearm and vehicle.鈥 Detectives used license plate readers to identify the suspect vehicle in the shooting.
Later that day, detectives learned of Conley鈥檚 death and found his vehicle was similar to the one driven by the shooter, according to the complaint. Police called to the 1100 block of Arizona NE had found Conley stabbed to death in his home.
A single bullet casing was on the floor near Conley鈥檚 body, his doorbell camera had been spray-painted over and his black Lexus was missing. Neighbors said they heard a commotion in the early morning hours and at one point a truck matching one owned by Terrazas was parked outside.
As police investigated the shooting and homicide as separate cases, Terrazas was found in Conley鈥檚 SUV in the Cabela鈥檚 parking lot near Paseo del Norte, according to court records. A Taser was used on Terrazas during a standoff and he was arrested and found with a 9mm Glock.
Police said on Aug. 10 that the man who had been shot told police the suspect asked if he wanted to be paid to shoot someone, before shooting him. The man told police he didn鈥檛 want to be involved and gave no other information.
Detectives found additional video of the shooting on Aug. 12, according to the complaint. The video showed Conley鈥檚 SUV stop before the man approached the driver鈥檚 side and 鈥渁ppeared to converse with the driver.鈥
Within seconds, gunshots were heard and the man fell to the ground before getting up and running toward the smoke shop, the complaint states. The SUV remained stationary for a minute before leaving the area 鈥渁nd out of camera view.鈥
Police said on Sept. 3, detectives received ballistic results that found the gun found on Terrazas, which had been stolen from Conley, matched the casings from the shooting.