Font ResizeLAS CRUCES - Two alleged gang members have been indicted for allegedly shooting a shotgun at the car of rival gang members a month ago in a central Las Cruces neighborhood.
A Do a Ana County grand jury on Thursday charged Alejandro N. Nevarez, 18, with shooting from a motor vehicle, tampering with evidence and conspiracy; while Orlando Ray Estrada, 19, was charged with tampering with evidence and conspiracy, for allegedly hiding the shotgun inside his seat.
A witness reported seeing Nevarez and Estrada, in a white Chevy Caprice, approach a black car in the 1500 block of La Fonda Drive the night of Nov. 5, where the occupants began to bicker with each other, according to the Las Cruces Police Department. When the black car - which reportedly contained at least one member of a rival gang - began to drive off, Nevarez allegedly leaned out of the driver's window of the Caprice and fired at least one round from a shotgun.
The Caprice was stopped heading north on Triviz Drive, one block over. Inside, an officer reportedly found one spent shell casing and a pump-action shotgun Estrada allegedly tried to hide. A third passenger in the Caprice, a 17-year-old boy, was not charged.
At the time of their arrests, both Nevarez and Estrada had bench warrants for their arrests - Nevarez for a number of traffic infractions and Estrada for failing to pay a fine in a theft case for which he is on probation.
Nevarez, whose sports tattoos proclaiming himself "king of Cruces" and
As a juvenile, Nevarez, of the 1100 block of Lees Drive in Las Cruces, has also been convicted of robbery, tampering with evidence, drug possession and two probation violations, according to his indictment paperwork. Estrada, an Alamogordo native who lives on the 1000 block of Luna in Las Cruces, was previously convicted of possessing more than one ounce of marijuana and has failed to appear for court hearings, according to his indictment paperwork.
Ashley Meeks can be reached at (575) 541-5462
