By Andrew Hay
(Reuters) – Two alleged drug dealers were arrested for the killing of an 11-year-old boy outside an Albuquerque baseball stadium this month that prompted New Mexico’s governor to impose a controversial gun carry ban in the state’s largest city, police said.
Jose Romero, 22, and Nathen Garley, 21 were held for the shooting which spurred Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham to temporarily suspend firearm carry rights for a “cooling off period” in one of the most violent U.S. cities.
Her unprecedented move pulled New Mexico into a national debate on gun rights and public safety.
Froylan Villegas was killed and his cousin Tatiana Villegas, 24, paralyzed from the waist down when more than a dozen shots were fired into their pickup truck as it left a minor-league baseball game on Sept. 6.
Investigators initially thought it was an act of road rage but police said the suspects appeared to have mistaken the truck for a similar vehicle owned by a man they were in a feud with.
“It is our belief that these cowards mixed up the two vehicles and shot into the wrong vehicle,” Albuquerque police chief Harold Medina told reporters.
Lujan Grisham’s emergency health order suspending open and concealed carry rights met bipartisan backlash as unconstitutional and was challenged by gun rights advocates. The move was supported by New Mexico gun control proponents and the Catholic archbishop of Santa Fe.
The ban was suspended by a federal court judge on Sept. 13 on grounds it violated U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
The Democratic governor last week narrowed her health order to just parks and playgrounds.
Police said Romero was already wanted for failing to appear in court for alleged drug dealing while Garley was arrested with about 100,000 fentanyl tablets in his vehicle.
It was not immediately possible to identify lawyers for the men.
(Reporting by Andrew Hay; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
