One man dead in Mora double shooting

NMSP identified the man killed as Jermain R. Jennings of Rio Rancho, and according to a criminal complaint filed in Mora Magistrate Court, the man wounded was his husband, Ben Montoya Jr., also of Rio Rancho.

Alex H. Pacheco, 24, was arrested after a warrant for his arrest was issued following the shooting. Pacheco has been charged with second-degree murder.

NMSP spokesman Dusty Francisco told the Optic that officers located two people with gunshot wounds just before 1 a.m. on Sept. 28 at the Allsup’s Convenience Store on Main Street in Mora. Francisco said Jennings was taken to a hospital, where he later died. Francisco said Montoya was also transported to a hospital, but his condition was “unknown.”

According to the criminal complaint, during an interview with Amalia Montoya, Ben Montoya’s mother, she told officers Jennings and her son were married, and that Ben Montoya and Jennings were planning to travel from Rio Rancho to Cleveland, N.M., to help care for a family member.

Amalia Montoya told police that Pacheco had been sending text messages to Ben Montoya all day, and that Pacheco was “calling him names” in those text messages. She told police that, in one of those texts, Pacheco told Ben Montoya and Jennings to leave the home in Cleveland around 10 p.m.

Just after midnight, another member of Ben Montoya’s family received a phone call saying he’d been shot. When she went to the Allsup’s, she found Ben Montoya and Jennings on the ground, both with gunshot wounds. Ben Montoya told her that Pacheco had shot him and Jennings while the couple was at Pacheco’s apartment.

NMSP investigators found a bullet casing in the driveway at Pacheco’s apartment, and another fired casing was found inside the apartment. Police also located a trail of blood near the driveway.

The vehicle Ben Montoya and Jennings had traveled in was parked in the driveway, and officers found bullet holes in the windshield, as well as another bullet casing near a windshield wiper.

Police arrested Pacheco later that morning after locating him at a home in Mora. He was booked into the San Miguel County Detention Center Tuesday evening.

A woman who lives with Pacheco, and who is identified as his girlfriend, told police Pacheco had been fighting with Ben Montoya all day via text messages. She said she was asleep when she heard someone kicking at the front door, and then heard gunshots. Pacheco told her Ben Montoya and Jennings had “tried to get in.”

Pacheco appeared in Mora Magistrate Court Wednesday morning. In addition to the felony charge of second-degree murder, Pacheco has been charged with felony aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, and misdemeanor negligent use of a deadly weapon near a dwelling or building.

Judge John Sanchez set a cash-only bond of $200,000 for Pacheco, but as of this writing, Pacheco remained in custody at SMCDC. He is being represented by Herman “Chico” Gallegos, who was unavailable for comment.

Pacheco is scheduled to appear in Mora Magistrate Court at 9 a.m. on Oct. 16 to be arraigned.