Court date set for public records suit over Los Altos shooting

A public records lawsuit filed by the mother of a slain Albuquerque teen will head to trial later this month. Albuquerque city attorneys were a no-show today for a court meeting to determine the scheduling of a trial relating a March 22 shooting that left 17-year-old Jaquise Lewis dead. Munah Green, Lewis’s mother, is suing the city for allegedly withholding public records related to the shooting. Albuquerque District Judge Victor Lopez scheduled a hearing for the lawsuit on Nov. 20 at 10:30 am.

DA to review fatal Los Altos Skate Park shooting case

A district attorney wants to review the police department’s investigation of the Los Altos Skate Park shooting in March that left 17-year-old Jaquise Lewis dead. This is all according to recent email exchanges between DA Kari Brandenburg and Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden obtained by New Mexico Political Report. In an email titled “Jaquise Lewis homicide” sent to Eden last week, Brandenburg wrote that she was “getting calls and inquiries regarding the above case.” Police held a press conference more than a month after the shooting where they said Lewis was killed as a result of self defense. Police have not arrested or named the man who killed Lewis.

Mother of Jaquise Lewis sues APD

The mother of a teenager who died after a March shooting at Los Altos Skate Park is suing the Albuquerque Police Department for public records violations. In the lawsuit, Munah Green alleges that APD is improperly withholding public records related to the shooting that also saw six people wounded, including a reported paralyzation. Green’s son, 17-year-old Jaquise Lewis, died after being shot in the back twice from a distance. To date, APD hasn’t named or charged Lewis’ shooter with a crime, concluding that he killed Lewis in self-defense. In April, Green and her attorney requested all police reports, video recordings, audio recordings and other information related to the shooting.

Two witnesses speak about ABQ mass shooting

The events of March 22, 2015 that culminated in the death of an Albuquerque teenager didn’t begin at Los Altos Skate Park. They began when a group of friends threw a barbecue for Jaquise Lewis three miles south of the skate park at Manzano Mesa Park, according to two witnesses who recently spoke to New Mexico Political Report about the shooting. While Albuquerque police say an investigation into Lewis’ death is ongoing and maintain that no one from his group is cooperating, both witnesses said police haven’t contacted them since the night of the shooting. © New Mexico Political Report, 2015. Contact editor@nmpoliticalreport.com for info on republishing.

Family of slain teen questions TV report of shooter

A man who claims he killed Jaquise Lewis in the March 22 Los Altos Skate Park shooting spoke anonymously to KOB-TV last week. The TV news segment featured the man’s silhouette and didn’t release his identity “because he has not been charged with a crime, and police have not finished their investigation.” The report described him as a 22-year-old father. In the report, the man said he carries a gun with him everywhere he goes. He used it that night, according to what he told KOB, when he saw an argument over a skateboard escalate into gunfire. The man said he saw 17-year-old Lewis shoot two people.

Family of teen killed in Los Altos shooting wants video released

Three months after a shooting that left 17-year-old Jaquise Lewis dead, the Albuquerque Police Department allowed his family to see a video of the shooting for the first time. But just because APD allowed the family to see the video earlier this week, that doesn’t mean the department will be releasing the video to the public. Nor have they revealed the identity of Lewis’ shooter, whom they say killed Lewis in self-defense. “This case is still an open, active investigation,” APD spokeswoman Celina Espinoza told New Mexico Political Report in a statement Wednesday evening. “Video is not being released at this time.”

Lewis was the only person to die after the March 22 shooting at Los Altos Skate Park, which left six others wounded.