Española man charged in fatal shooting in Cuartelez

September 10 – An Española Valley man was charged with first-degree murder in connection with a fatal shooting in mid-August off a highway in the small community of Cuartelez outside Española.

Lucas Gomez-Lopez, 36, is accused of killing 41-year-old Marcelino Herrera on the afternoon of Aug. 18, according to charges filed Monday by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office.

An arrest warrant was issued for Gomez-Lopez on Monday, but a sheriff's office spokesman said he had not been arrested as of Tuesday and should be considered “armed and dangerous.”

Several witnesses identified Gomez-Lopez by his nickname “Pajaro” and told sheriff's office investigators he shot Herrera during an argument as both men were preparing to leave the location – an empty lot off NM 76 near the intersection with Eh Ski Vel Lane in Cuartelez – an arrest warrant affidavit states.

A witness told officers that the men had parked in the parking lot to buy drugs at a nearby house.

Officers dispatched to the scene where Herrera was killed found five witnesses at the scene and Herrera's body. He had gunshot wounds to the chest and head, according to the affidavit.

According to the affidavit, detectives from the sheriff's office interviewed witnesses – including a man who may have fled the scene with Gomez-Lopez – and reviewed surveillance video and data from automatic license plate readers in Española to trace the crime to Gomez-Lopez.

A confidential informant told investigators that Gomez-Lopez may have ties to a Mexican drug cartel and lives in an arroyo, although he owns a mobile home in Alcalde, the affidavit said.

Several witnesses to the shooting said Herrera and Gomez-Lopez “exchanged words” in the parking lot, investigators wrote. Herrera got out of his pickup truck and walked toward Gomez-Lopez's vehicle when Gomez-Lopez fired “four or five” shots at him, witnesses told investigators. He then drove away with two other people.

One person said Herrera reached behind his back as if he was reaching for a gun, but police did not indicate that any other weapons were found at the scene.

Gomez-Lopez, who according to the sheriff's office also goes by the alias “Yovani,” is facing charges of murder and tampering with evidence.

He was charged with other violent crimes in the area in recent years.

An arrest warrant issued in May 2023 did not appear to have been valid at the time of the shooting, court records show.

He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, criminal damage and resisting arrest. New Mexico State Police accused him of threatening his ex-girlfriend and her family members with a knife at a Velarde home and driving into the woman's pickup truck, according to an affidavit. He also allegedly fled from police in an SUV.

A week later, Gomez-Lopez's roommates at a home in Valle del Arroyo Seco, south of Española, told police he threatened them at gunpoint when they told him they couldn't pay their rent, an affidavit said. Officers said they found a handgun and suspected fentanyl pills in the house, and Gomez-Lopez was charged with drug possession and two counts of resisting arrest.

The criminal case has been transferred to the state district court and trial is scheduled for early 2025.

Herrera's family members said he had a “rough life” growing up but moved away from Española Valley about a decade ago and improved.

He was born in the northern New Mexico community of Coyote but grew up mostly in Española, his sister Esther Herrera said in a recent interview. He had lived in California for years but returned to Española Valley about a month before his murder.

His sister said he had three children – two sons and a daughter.