Albuquerque Police Department arrested 14-year-old Izaiah Ruiz Friday and charged him with the murder of 21-year-old Eddy Ortiz.
Ortiz was hosting a party at his home Wednesday night in southwest Albuquerque. APD detectivities determined Ruiz was part of a group of teenagers who had carjacked two victims at gunpoint earlier Wednesday. The group showed up at Ortiz’s home at 3 a.m. Thursday. Witnesses said Ruiz fired an “assault style rifle” at the house. Ortiz was inside the home and was struck in the head by a bullet and died at the scene.
The group Ruiz was with stole a black Ford Fiesta at 1100 Bataan Drive SW and later stole a dark green Honda Pilot from a victim at 9901 Ceja Vista Road SW.
At 7:39 a.m. Thursday, officers responded to a call that a group of young males in a Honda Pilot followed the caller into a gated community at 7500 Bluewater Road NW, threatened to kill her and demanded her keys at gunpoint.
Less than an hour later, officers responded at 8:28 a.m. to West Mesa High School to investigate a report of an armed robbery of Apple Air pods and cash. Officers used the GPS from the Air Pods to track the vehicle driven by the suspects to a nearby location, but they did not locate anyone.
About an hour after that incident, “an APD officer in the Northwest Area Command spotted the dark green Honda Pilot that matched the description from detectives and officers in the Southwest. The officer saw the vehicle driving erratically and at a high rate of speed in the area of Coors Blvd. and Western Trails. A pursuit was authorized, and the Honda Pilot crashed into a cinder block wall at the corner of Montaño Rd. and Picture Rock Pl., N.W.”
Ruiz was a passenger in the vehicle. He exited while holding a black assault-style weapon. Officers were able to arrest Ruiz without incident as he fled on foot. The driver, later identified as Diego Padilla, 15, was taken into custody a short time later.
“Detectives determined that bullet casings at the murder scene matched the same brand of ammunition collected from the rifle recovered at the scene of the crash on Thursday. APD’s Crime Lab also tested the casings, which resulted in a presumptive positive match,” a release from the department states.
Ruiz refused to cooperate with detectives and is charged in Children’s Court with an open count of murder and armed robbery.
Padilla was charged in Children’s Court with armed robbery and aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer.
