APD investigates 42nd homicide, IDs recent victims

May 13—Albuquerque police found a man shot to death behind a Walgreens overnight Thursday and released the identities of several recent victims as the city inches closer to 50 slayings so far this year.

Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman, said officers responded around 12:30 a.m. to reports of a body behind Walgreens at Central and San Mateo NE.

They found 44-year-old Jonathan Wacondo dead with a gunshot wound to the chest.

There have been 42 homicides so far this year, with 23 of them solved. There were 44 by this time in 2021, which totaled a record 117 homicides by year's end.

Wacondo's death is one of five homicides this month — out of ten — that has yet to be solved. Gallegos said detectives are also still investigating the deaths of Jesus Lopez, 29, Fernando Calleros, 47, Daniel Venhuizen, 53, and a still unidentified man killed Wednesday.

On May 5, police responded around 10 p.m. to a shooting near Buena Ventura and Garcia NE and found Lopez fatally injured in the roadway.

Then, on May 7, officers responded around 8:30 a.m. to an apartment complex on Richmond and Silver SE and found Calleros dead inside an apartment.

Later that night, police responded to a shooting around 9:25 p.m. near Central and Wyoming and found Venhuizen fatally injured with a gunshot wound. He later died at the hospital.

Police are asking anyone with information into the incidents to call Crime Stoppers at 505-843-STOP (7867), or APD's non-emergency number at 505-242-COPS (2677).