Gabriel Montaño, 20, was shot dead shortly after 8 p.m. on April 7, 2026, in the 3200 block of Don Gabal Loop NW, a neighborhood west of Old Town in Albuquerque. Officers found his body in the street and encountered two men, 22-year-old Xavier Torres and 19-year-old John Gonzales, with their hands raised; both were arrested at the scene and later charged with open-count murder.

Torres and Gonzales told investigators they had acted in self-defense, claiming Montaño pulled a handgun from a cross-body pack. Detectives reported inconsistencies in those statements and say the two men had arranged for Montaño to come to their home because they suspected he would be armed. Surveillance footage reportedly shows one of the men stepping back and then firing roughly 10 to 15 shots at Montaño without an apparent warning. A search turned up multiple weapons, including magazines in a backpack, a Glock in a children’s bedroom, and a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun.

Torres faces a separate pending charge from 2023 for allegedly pointing a firearm at a former girlfriend and her family; Gonzales had a juvenile criminal case in 2023. Would anyone who knew Gabriel or who has information about the events that night come forward to help clarify what happened?