Matthew Sedillo, 40, was killed in an Albuquerque shopping center parking lot on the afternoon of May 28, 2025, after an altercation that followed an alleged shoplifting from Moe’s Smoke Shop near Lomas and San Mateo Boulevards. The shop owner, 35-year-old Mohtasem Mahir Thabata, pursued Sedillo into the lot. Sedillo got into a white vehicle with a female passenger; Thabata, armed with a handgun, grabbed the driver’s side door as the car began to reverse. After being knocked down and dragged, Thabata retrieved a dropped gun and fired at the fleeing car intending to hit the tires. The bullet struck Sedillo, who slumped over the wheel; the car then accelerated, crashed and caught fire. Sedillo was found dead in the burned-out vehicle; the death was ruled a homicide.

No other suspects have been identified. Reports say Sedillo had a criminal history and had been found incompetent to stand trial in several recent cases. Does anyone have information about the confrontation in the parking lot or the moments before Sedillo entered the vehicle?