Man suspected of firing a non-fatal shot and committing murder in a South Valley home

September 24 – A man accused of shooting another man in the arm outside a home in August is suspected of returning weeks later and killing the homeowner.

Samuel Jimenez Perez, 29, of Albuquerque is charged with aggravated assault after shooting a man in the South Valley on Aug. 8. Meanwhile, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and prosecutors said Perez returned on Sept. 7 and killed the man who lived in the home, and the bullets from both shootings matched.

According to online court records, Perez has not been charged with murder, so the Journal is not disclosing the victim’s identity.

Perez is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center on a charge of aggravated assault. His attorney could not be reached for comment.

Court records show BCSO targeted Perez as a suspect in both shootings after Albuquerque police arrested him and another man in a stolen SUV the same day. The man he was with accused Perez of the fatal shooting and, through further investigation, was identified by officers as a suspect in the shooting a month earlier.

Perez was initially released pending trial for car theft, but was then rearrested on Friday for the first shooting.

Prosecutors requested that Perez be kept behind bars until trial, arguing: “He obviously believes that all conflicts in his life can be resolved through violence. He is extremely dangerous.”

“The evidence suggests that he returned a month (later) and killed the resident,” the motion states. “He confessed to third parties when and where he committed the murder. The bullet casings matched in both incidents. It is clear that the defendant knows no boundaries.”

In 2018, according to court records, Perez pleaded guilty to his involvement in a triple murder and testified against his accomplices who were accused of shooting three people and a small dog in Sandoval County.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court on August 8, a man who was shot told police he was at a friend’s house in the 1700 block of Atrisco SW, near Coors, when the driver of an SUV – later identified as Perez – ordered him to open the gate to the house and told him in Spanish, “I’m Mexican, I don’t care.”

Officials said the man went to the house to get the homeowner when Perez fired several shots, hitting him in the arm and damaging an artery before he was taken to a hospital.

Officers said they found two stolen motorcycles on the property, as well as firearms, drugs and bullet casings.

The complaint does not specify what additional steps BCSO investigators initially took to resolve the nonfatal shooting.

The lawsuit states that about a month later, on Sept. 7, officers responded to a call about a homicide at the same location. When they arrived, a man who lived in the home was found dead, with “at least one gunshot wound.”

According to the complaint, officers received information from Albuquerque police on Sept. 8 about a stolen truck that Perez was in. The truck’s driver had told authorities that Perez had called him on the day of the murder and asked for a ride, telling him he had “run over” someone in the area.

Officials said the slain man’s daughter received a photograph of the suspect, later identified as Perez, from her father’s neighbors, and the man who was shot in the arm told officials he was “fifty percent” sure Perez was responsible.