Albert Vega (Photo Courtesy of Grant County Detention Center)

By Roger Lanse

Silver City police officers were dispatched to the area of 6th and Swan streets at about 8:55 p.m. on June 21, in response to a report of shots fired. While en route, a responding officer advised that quite a few vehicles and people were leaving the area.

When officers arrived, they determined that two people had been shot and brought to Gila Regional Medical Center by "the boys," the mother of one of the victims said, according to an incident report. After making sure the area was secure, officers headed to secure the hospital, where the two gunshot victims had been taken. While at the hospital, personnel there related to officers that three gunshot victims had been brought to the ER, Sean Stewart Jr, 19; Albert Vega, 18; and Gilbert Gomezlopez, 23, all of Silver City.

Officers, the report stated, observed that Stewart had been shot three times, once each in the right foot, right elbow and right shoulder; Vega had a single gunshot wound to his upper right arm; and Gomezlopez had approximately seven gunshot wounds - four in the abdominal area, two in his upper right thigh, and one in his left arm. Doctors confirmed that Gomezlopez had seven wounds and that all three victims would be flown to El Paso for treatment, according to the report.

Witnesses stated that an argument ensued over the phone and escalated to others coming over to fight and then gunshots were heard, the report said. Witnesses, initially, were unable to help officers piece together exactly what happened. However, one victim stated, according to the report, that another victim pointed a chrome-finished handgun at his face and fired, hitting him in the right arm.

Officers transported witnesses to SCPD for questioning, and officers went to the hospital to collect the three victims' clothes. The scene was cleared at about 5:38 a.m. the next day.

As a result of the investigation, Albert Vega was arrested, without incident, by Grant County sheriff's deputies at his residence on Bobwhite Drive on Wednesday, July 1, about 5:20 p.m., and taken to the Grant County Detention Center under a $20,000 cash or surety bond. GCDC personnel informed the Grant County Beat at 4:30 p.m., Thursday, July 2, that Vega was still in custody.