[nmap]

Here's an update, FWIW:

Wednesday, June 24, 2009
APD: Denny's Cook Chased Down, Shot
By Jeff Proctor
Journal Staff Writer

There had been conflicting accounts about how Stephanie Anderson was shot and killed during a strong-arm robbery at Denny's this past weekend.

Police Chief Ray Schultz moved to clear up the confusion on Tuesday. He said the 34-year-old cook was chased down and shot with a revolver as she ran from the robbers.
Witness accounts of the circumstances surro
unding Anderson's death during the armed siege Saturday had varied widely. Some accounts had suggested the gun might have gone off accidentally.

Police spent three-plus painstaking days trying to piece the incident together.

"She was running away from (the gunmen), and they were chasing her," Schultz told the Journal on Tuesday. "We know that Ms. Anderson was shot with a revolver, and those are not prone to being discharged accidentally. So you can come to only one conclusion."

It's not yet clear how many times Anderson was shot.

Detectives are working to determine which of the suspects actually pulled the trigger: Pablo Ortiz, 32, Marvin Lopez-Aguilar, 22, Francisco Melgar, 25, or a possible fourth, unidentified man.

Ortiz and Lopez-Aguilar are being held without bond at the Metropolitan Detention Center on murder and other charges. Melgar, who faces the same charges, is still at large, and authorities believe a fourth suspect may have been involved.

"We're still trying to put the firearm in the offender's hands," the chief said. "That will be done through forensics: fingerprints and DNA. But they all went in there with the purpose of committing an armed robbery. They went in there with the purpose of using firearms. Ultimately, they're all responsible."

Chris Duran, a former firefighter and emergency medical technician for Santa Fe County, told KOAT Channel 7 that he was inside the restaurant at the time of the shooting.

Shortly after the gunmen walked in, he called 911, Duran told KOAT. The next thing he heard was a gunshot.

"When they first walked in, they initially fired a warning shot into the ceiling," he told the station. "Then they told everybody, 'OK, get down.' "

Duran told the station that the armed robbers demanded money from the cash register. He heard another gunshot moments later.

Once the gunmen fled, Duran said he ran back to the kitchen, where he saw Anderson.

"When I first seen her, she was just slumped over, trying to breathe," he told KOAT, adding that she had a gunshot wound right below her shoulder blade.

He told the station he checked her pulse and turned her on her side.

"Her mouth was covered in blood and stuff, so I tried to clear her airway," Duran said. Then "she just stopped breathing," he told the station.

Police say Melgar and Ortiz are Salvadoran gang members. It is unclear whether Lopez-Aguilar is part of the MS-13 gang, but police said all three are part of a group responsible for eight other armed robberies in the city since May 16. Among them was an incident in which the manager of the same Denny's where Saturday's incident took place was robbed at an area bank.

In each case, the robbers used guns and took cash.



LINK

And, on the illegal immigration issue, the following offers further illumination:

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Alleged Robbers in U.S. Illegally

By Jeff Proctor
Journal Staff Writer

Three men who allegedly stormed into a West Side Denny's over the weekend and killed a 34-year-old cook were in the United States illegally, and one had been deported less than a year ago after an arrest.

Pablo Ortiz, who police say is a member of the notorious Salvadoran gang MS-13, was arrested in Albuquerque in May 2008 on suspicion of DWI. After a judge found him guilty, Ortiz spent 46 days at the Metropolitan Detention Center. He was released on July 7.

About a month later, Ortiz "agreed to participate in a voluntary deportation program," Police Chief Ray Schultz told the Journal.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents "put him on a plane and sent him back to El Salvador" in August of 2008, the chief said. "Some time in the next few months, he sneaked back into the country."

Federal officials also confirmed that two other suspects in the Denny's shooting are here illegally, but it is unclear whether 22-year-old Marvin Lopez-Aguilar and 25-year-old Francisco Melgar had previously been deported to El Salvador.

Ortiz and Lopez-Aguilar remained jailed at the MDC late Tuesday on no-bond holds.

They are charged with murder in the killing of Denny's cook Stephanie Anderson and more than 40 other felony counts.

Authorities were still searching for Melgar, who faces the same charges.
Police say Melgar and Ortiz are MS-13 gang members.

Melgar has twice been arrested on suspicion of DWI in Bernalillo County, court records show. In 2006, his charge was dismissed by prosecutors due to lack of discovery.

He was arrested again in February of 2009 and is due to appear on that charge before a Metropolitan Court judge on Thursday.

On both occasions, Melgar was released from the West Side jail on his own recognizance under court order, jail Capt. Heather Lough said. Officials could not determine Tuesday whether Melgar had immigration holds at the time of his two arrests, although Lough said it is unlikely.

"If he had had immigration holds, he would not have been released," she said.

A spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement could not provide details of the three men's immigration status on Tuesday.

"They do have detainers because they are in the country illegally," ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa wrote in an e-mail response to Journal questions.

Zamarripa said the detainers were placed on Ortiz and Lopez-Aguilar after their arrests on Saturday.

Schultz said in the case of Ortiz's May 2008 arrest, the officer who pulled him over did not contact federal authorities because the officer did not believe his immigration status was pertinent to the DWI investigation.

He did not know the details of Melgar's arrests.

Determining when police officers should call federal immigration officers has been a hotly debated topic among elected officials, community leaders and the public.

Albuquerque police issued a policy for its officers, and then was forced to reissue it after complaints about what it meant.

The current policy reads: "Officers shall not inquire about or seek proof of a person's immigration status, unless the person is in custody or is a suspect in a criminal investigation for a nonimmigration criminal violation and the immigration status of the person or suspect is pertinent to the criminal investigation."

Moreover, ICE agents regularly check the immigration status of all those booked into the West Side jail, whether APD officers call them or not.

The chief reiterated that Albuquerque is not a "sanctuary city," as some critics have alleged. "This is an immigrant-friendly city. We work with all federal partners to keep the citizens of this city safe."



LINK

Snarky comment: Oooh, I bet we get secure borders now!