Charges filed in fatal shooting in Santa Fe home
Jan. 26—A charge of first-degree murder and other counts have been formally filed against 25-year-old Jay Wagers, who is accused in an October homicide at a home on Alamosa Drive.
A criminal complaint outlining a monthslong investigation into the death of Joseph Aiello, 39, was filed in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court on Jan. 20, more than a month after Santa police announced Wagers would face the murder charge. He also faces counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Wagers is accused of fatally shooting Aiello during a small party in the early morning hours of Oct. 4.
In the meantime, he has been held at the Santa Fe County jail on charges accusing him in a string of other violent incidents later that day.
The newly filed criminal complaint says police arrived at the Alamosa Drive home around 2:45 a.m. and were met by two witnesses who had stayed at the home after they heard the shooting and found Aiello lying in a hallway.
Many people ran from the home before police arrived, the complaint says. The pair told officers they had gone to the home the evening of Oct. 3 to spend time with the homeowner, Aiello and other people they did not know.
One witness described the environment as being filled with "negative excitement."
The second person said she had seen Wagers holding a gun and "making people nervous," according to the complaint. She said he had been behaving strangely and muttering to himself.
The two were in a bedroom with other partygoers when they heard Aiello speaking loudly to someone in the hallway — but they said that was not unusual for Aiello, the complaint says.
Then they heard a gunshot.
A third witness later told police he had arrived at the home around the time of the shooting. When he approached the front door, he said, he heard a loud gunshot and then watched Wagers leave, holding a firearm.
Wagers pointed the gun at him and muttered his name, the man said.
Later that afternoon, police believe Wagers shot a man outside a liquor store on Hickox Street. Santa Fe police Lt. David Webb said the man suffered head wounds and remains hospitalized in stable condition.
Wagers, who police say fled from the shooting scene, is accused of attempting to steal several cars and also shooting at one before he was taken into custody Oct. 4 in a parking lot at the Santa Fe Indian School.
He faces 13 felony charges and three misdemeanor counts tied to the incidents.
A ballistics test found that a casing discovered at the Alamosa Drive home matched that of a bullet fired from the gun retrieved from Wagers when he was arrested, the criminal complaint says. The final ballistics analysis was returned to Santa Fe police Dec. 9.
