Judge rules Alvarado will remain in custody

A Socorro man who reportedly opened fire in a parking lot near New Mexico Tech, killing Quentin Sisneros, will remain jailed, a judge ruled Monday.

Anthony Alvarado, 22, is charged with an open count of murder, two counts of child abuse, one count of negligent use of a deadly weapon and two counts of shooting from a motor vehicle in what police said was a case of mistaken identity. Alvarado attended the hearing via phone from the Socorro County Detention Center, where he is being held.

Seventh Judicial Judge Roscoe Woods said given the weapon used in the crime was still at large and the intended victim was still in Socorro, “there are no release conditions that would prevent him from completing his objective.”

“Here’s what’s concerning to the court, notwithstanding that the state mentioned that he didn’t comply with the conditions of release, that he failed to appear, but including he absconded, knowing full well, from what I heard today, this may have been a mistaken identity, but nonetheless absconded, and therefore state police had to use their tactical unit,” Judge Woods said at the pretrial detention hearing on Monday.

Before the ruling, Deputy District Attorney Katherine Stout and defense attorney Johnathan Schildgen, representing Alvarado, questioned New Mexico State Agent SondreLoberg, for about an hour.

Loberg, who was the case agent in charge of the investigation and interviewed Alvarado after his arrest, said it appeared Alvarado had a confrontational relationship with a Mike McDaniel, who reportedly had “pistol whipped” Alvarado. According to Loberg, Alvarado’s girlfriend told Loberg, Alvarado was upset for several days before the shooting about the infidelity between her and McDaniel but they were “working through it”. During that time Alvarado told Loberg he was doing drugs.

“Mr. Alvarado himself admitted to relapsing on fentanyl due to this alleged infidelity, and admitted to being under the influence of fentanyl when the incident occurred,” Loberg said.

Loberg said Alvarado admitted to being mad at McDaniel and said he wanted to box him and denied wanting to shoot him.

“When he (Alvarado) was asked about why bring a rifle to a fist fight? He was concerned that the other person might be armed, so he needed his rifle with him,” Loberg said, “And he specifically stated he believed it was Mr. McDaniel, the intended target, that drove the vehicle that was coming at him, and that he fired at the vehicle because he believed Mr. McDaniel was driving towards him on purpose.”

According to Loberg when he told Alvarado who the victim was he expressed regret calling Sisneros “my boy” and said he had shot the wrong person.

Deputy District Attorney Stout requested pretrial detention for Alvarado and said he was a danger to the community for discharging 34 rounds from an AR-15 in a residential neighborhood, resulting in the death of an innocent person.

“He was angry, he took his 10-month old child with him to a parking lot to try to meet with that person. He pointed that gun in the face of a 17-year-old child, and then he turned around and indiscriminately fired at a sedan that looked like the person that he actually wanted to kill,” Stout said, “ Thirty-four rounds came out in that residential neighborhood over by Tech, there’s absolutely a clear and convincing evidence to show that he is extremely dangerous.”

Schildgen said he sought Alvarado's release under strict supervision suggesting several possible conditions including house arrest, GPS monitoring, requiring a third-party custodian, surrendering his firearm, curfew, travel restrictions and regular reporting to pretrial services.

“I think the testimony that we heard from the officer was that he, in fact, didn’t want to kill the individual that actually was killed, and he didn’t want to kill the other guy. He wanted to fight him,” Schildgen said, “The fact that somebody ends up defending themselves, even though they might be wrong, is not the same thing as wanting to kill somebody.”

He said Alvarado lawfully owned his firearm and disputed the prosecution’s focus on the nature of the alleged offense, insisting that pretrial detention should not be based solely on the charge or incident’s nature.