Four are charged in fatal Downtown shooting
Nov. 3—The three young men drove around Downtown Albuquerque looking for a Black man with dreadlocks. It was July 10 and they were trying to find those who allegedly battered Asad Moody the week before.
Instead, in what appears to be a case of mistaken identity, authorities say Moody fired an AK-47 at Trevonte Robbins and his friends after spotting them near Central and Fourth.
Robbins, 19, was fatally shot, a teenage boy with him was injured and an officer driving through the area was hit with glass shards when gunfire struck his windshield.
Moody, 19; Jonathan Martinez, 21; and Darryus Chavez, 22, are each charged with an open count of murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy charges. Isney Lafirme, 21, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the incident.
A warrant has been issued for the four men.
In 2019 Moody, then 17, was charged with conspiracy and tampering in a drug ripoff that left a man shot several times. It is unclear how that case resolved. Robbins' family previously told the Journal he was raised in Albuquerque and was visiting from Georgia when he was struck by a stray bullet Downtown.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Metropolitan Court:
Police responded around 2:30 a.m. to Central and Fourth after an officer reported being hit by glass shards from gunfire in the area. Police found Robbins shot to death nearby and his friend, a teen, shot in the arm and abdomen.
Officers collected eight AK-47 casings from the scene and retrieved surveillance footage that showed the gunfire came from a black Honda with three men inside. Police noticed the shooter had distinct orange and green shoes and the car had a mirror held together by tape.
A partial license plate led police to Martinez and the Honda with the damaged mirror outside his home. A search of Martinez' phone and social media accounts led police to identify Chavez and Moody as suspects.
Detectives found a July 3 video of several men battering Moody in Downtown, being filmed by a Black man with dreadlocks. In a message, Lafirme told Moody "I hope it's funny when they die 1 by 1" and they traded photos of Black men — with braids and dreads — from the fight video.
Detectives found a video on Moody's Snapchat, posted hours before the shooting, which showed the distinct shoes, the AK-47 and the taped mirror of the car as it drove around.
Around the same time, Lafirme messaged Moody, "Jus look for dreads. Knock his dreads off. (Racial slur) wanna play til we say game over."
At the time of the shooting, Moody, Chavez and Martinez were all pinged in the area and surveillance video showed the black Honda drove past Robbins and his friends, one of whom has braids, multiple times before shots were fired.
