22 September 2023 , 22:17
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Two men were arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy, police confirmed.
Froylan Villegas died after being gunned down outside baseball stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico on September 6. On Thursday, Jose Romero, 22, and Nathen Garley, 21, were both being held for the shooting.
Police Chief Harold Medina said in a news conference that it is believed the tragic incident, which happened after an Albuquerque Isotopes game, was a case of mistaken identity. He also posted in an earlier tweet: "These cowards thought they were tough. They killed an innocent child.”
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Isotopes Stadium in Albuquerque where Froylan was killed outside on September 6 (isotopesstadium.com)Romero was taken into custody on Thursday evening and was wanted for failing to appear in court in connection with alleged drug dealing, Medina said. While Garley was already in custody when he was arrested.
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State Police Chief W. Troy Weisler added that he had been stopped by police on September 13 while returning from Arizona. A gun and around 100,000 fentanyl tablets were found in the vehicle.
Authorities alleged that further investigations linked him to the boy's death. It is unclear if either men have a lawyer to speak on their behalf, reported NBC News.
It was also suggested by police that the men were gang members and had pulled up in a car to target a pickup truck leaving the minor league game at the stadium. Froylan was killed and his cousin, Tatiana Villegas, paralyzed from the waist down as more than a dozen shot were fired.
The boy's mother and younger brother were also in the truck but left uninjured - although two bullets barely missed the other child. Police initially thought it may have been a road rage incident.
However, Romero and Garley had an ongoing feud with another man and had argued with him during the game. Police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said the man drove a white Dodge pickup truck.
The victims were in a similar white Dodge truck that also pulled out of the stadium parking lot and drove by the truck of the intended target. Gallegos said: “It is our belief that these cowards mixed up the two vehicles and shot into the wrong vehicle.
“Investigators used cellphone data and social media to track the movements of several individuals. The day after the shooting, the man who was feuding with Romero sent him a message on Instagram indicating they shot at the wrong truck.”
The shooting, one of several involving children, prompted New Mexico governor Michelle Lujan Grisham to issue a controversial gun ban. Republican lawmakers and gun rights groups rejected the measure and last week a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order blocking the order pending another court hearing next month.
US District Judge David Urias said the governor’s original order could deprive people of the right to carry a gun publicly for self-defense and cause them 'irreparable harm'. Grisham then applied the order only to public parks and playgrounds where children and their families often went to.