Man charged in double homicide at ABQ gas station
Apr. 22—Detectives arrested a man accused of fatally shooting two men during a dispute outside a gas station earlier this month in Northeast Albuquerque.
Marcos Vigil, 48, is charged with two open counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the April 12 shooting thta left Kenneth Sweetwater Jr., 42, and Dominic Sanchez, 32, dead. Authorities say Vigil also pointed the gun at Sweetwater's son, who watched him shoot the two men.
Vigil was arrested Thursday and will be booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center.
Officers responded around 6:15 p.m. to the shooting outside the DK convenience store near Copper and Tramway. They found Sweetwater and Sanchez both fatally shot. Sweetwater died soon after and Sanchez died days later.
Sweetwater's wife and son told police the group was asking for change outside, hours earlier, when an older man and a teenaged boy showed up in a truck, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Sweetwater's wife said the pair left but later returned on foot and the man confronted Sanchez about the way he was looking at him.
She said the teen stayed outside and began talking to them about "how great" meth and crack is, which she "thought was odd."
The wife told police the teen called them racial slurs and spat at them as the pair walked away and Sanchez followed "like he was going to fight," according to court records. He said the man turned and shot Sanchez and Sweetwater several times.
Police said Sweetwater's son told them the teen started the fight and he yelled "he has a gun!" before the man fired. He said he went to check on his dad when the man pointed the gun at him too.
Court records state surveillance video showed Sweetwater and Sanchez turned away from Vigil, their back to him, and retreated before being shot.
Detectives found the truck the pair initially came in, which didn't belong to Vigil, on surveillance footage and drove around until spotting it in a driveway a few blocks from the gas station, according to police. Police found the home belonged to Vigil and a neighbor's security camera showed the man and a teen walking toward the gas station on foot.
Court records state a woman who saw the shooting said the teen started the confrontation and the man was trying to get him to "keep walking." She told police the two men "didn't even get a chance" to touch the teen when the man shot them both.
Sweetwater's wife and son picked out Vigil as the shooter in a photo lineup.
