Teens used LSD, cocaine in UNM dorm before fatal shooting, prosecutor says

ALBUQUERQUE — Four teenagers hanging out in a University of New Mexico dorm room on July 25 were using a potent mix of LSD, cocaine, marijuana and alcohol in the hours before 14-year-old Michael LaMotte, of Rio Rancho, was fatally shot in the head, a prosecutor said at a hearing Tuesday for the alleged gunman.

A judge on Tuesday ordered John Fuentes, 18, held in custody pending trial on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and tampering with evidence. One of the other teens was also grazed by a bullet that night.

“I agree it would be a ticking time bomb to release Mr. Fuentes into the community,” 2nd Judicial District Judge Joseph Montano said at the conclusion of Fuentes’ detention hearing. “If released, the danger to the community is high here.”

“What’s concerning to me is that (Fuentes) is 18 years old,” Montano said. “He’s under the influence of LSD, cocaine, alcohol and marijuana. Clearly, this is a crime of violence. There are multiple victims. One of them is deceased now.”

Fuentes’ attorney, Jon Stanford, argued that too many details about the killing remain unresolved to hold Fuentes in jail pending trial, including Fuentes’ identity as the shooter. Stanford also argued that prosecutors based their case on the memories of witnesses who were themselves severely intoxicated at the time.

“There are more questions than answers here,” Stanford said. “There are serious doubts about what transpired, whose gun was discharged, what happened immediately before the shots were fired.”

Other unknowns include if police recovered other drugs or firearms in the dorm room, he said.

Stanford also said that New Mexico State Police illegally made a recorded interview with Fuentes shortly after his arrest, given his obvious level of intoxication.

“His statements may not even have been obtained completely lawfully,” he said. “Because if you look at him in the video, he’s not all there. He’s still strongly under the influence of something.” Fuentes was arrested in Los Lunas the afternoon of the shooting, which took place in the early hours on the UNM campus.

LaMotte was killed in a dorm room occupied by Daniel Archuleta, 18, who was enrolled in UNM’s Gateway program, intended as a provisional program for students who don’t qualify for full admission to UNM.

Stanford said after the hearing that only one Glock 9mm handgun was recovered, but there were reportedly two in the dorm room. He said one firearm was already in Archuleta’s room, while Zion Miera, 19, LaMotte’s brother, also brought a gun.

Assistant District Attorney John Kloss said Fuentes left a Glock 9mm handgun on the roof of a UNM building but didn’t say who brought the gun on campus.

“The Glock pistol used was reportedly stolen and brought onto university properties, as well as carried by (Fuentes) outside, endangering numerous other individuals on campus at the time,” Kloss told the judge.

Archuleta was “grazed” in the back of the head by a gunshot, said Assistant District Attorney John Kloss, who recounted a broad outline of the fatal incident, much of it based on police interviews with the two surviving witnesses.

Security video showed that Fuentes arrived by car at the UNM campus at about 8 p.m. June 24 and parked outside the Casas del Rio dormitory. Kloss said the car was registered to Fuentes’ father and equipped with an interlock device required for people convicted of drunken driving.

“I’ll note that the defendant was observed driving a car with an interlock device to the scene of this incident, suggesting perhaps a prior DWI conviction or alcohol abuse history,” Kloss said.

At about 10:20 p.m., Fuentes met up with Archuleta and Miera, who had LaMotte in tow, and the four walked together to Archuleta’s dorm room, Kloss said. Miera told police that he and Fuentes were playing video games when Fuentes fatally shot LaMotte, who died at the scene.

Miera “reported that (Fuentes) appeared to be on drugs and then suddenly shot 14-year-old Michael LaMotte in the head inside the dorm room,” Kloss said. “He described the defendant as then threatening him with the gun and then shooting Daniel Archuleta in the back of the head as well.”

Miera also has a troubled past. He was charged in June with felony false imprisonment and two misdemeanor charges, including battery against a household member. In that case, he allegedly chased a man with an AK-style rifle and pushed the mother of his child during a custody exchange.

That case remains pending in Sandoval County Magistrate Court in Bernalillo.

After the shootings, Archuleta and Miera fled out a window, Kloss said. Miera then drove the two to the home of Archuleta’s mother, who then drove her son to UNM Hospital.

After Archuleta arrived at the hospital at about 2:30 a.m., UNM police found LaMotte’s body in the dorm room.

After the shootings, Fuentes “fled the dorm room and made his way across campus. He climbed onto the first story roof of the Mesa Vista building, broke several second story windows,” Kloss said. On the roof, Fuentes left a Glock 9mm handgun, a keychain, blue jeans and “extensive blood,” he said.

He allegedly called his father from the roof, telling him he was “hallucinating,” according to transcripts of a 911 call his mother made to police at 12:51 am.

Fuentes’ mother, Tessa Cannon, made the frantic call to a Valencia County dispatcher and reported that her son was on a roof, couldn’t breathe and was hallucinating. Cannon stated she received a call from Joseph Fuentes, father of John Fuentes, 20 minutes earlier, and said their son was having a crisis.

An “unidentified individual” picked up Fuentes in a pickup truck at about 1:40 a.m., Kloss said. That afternoon, New Mexico State Police arrested Fuentes on N.M. 314 in Los Lunas, he said.

Fuentes gave a statement to officers that he had been at UNM with his friends, Kloss said. Stanford said after the hearing that Fuentes, Archuleta and Miera are friends and LaMotte was Miera’s younger brother.

“Those friends regularly had firearms around, reportedly stolen and obtained on Telegram,” Kloss said. “He remembered having the gun in his hands, and described the sequence of making sounds like as if he was racking the slide and then the gun going off. He also described remembering fleeing, climbing the roof and calling his father for help.”

Stanford described Fuentes as “mostly law-abiding,” other than a juvenile conviction for driving while intoxicated “for which he complied with all his suggestions and was successfully discharged.”

Stanford also raised questions about the validity of the eyewitnesses in the case, who apparently had been using drugs, which could affect their memories.

“The story begins with four friends who got together to play video games, have a few drinks, get high,” Stanford said. “This is normal behavior for teenagers. It’s not the behavior that most parents would approve of, but it is normal behavior nonetheless.”

Court records show that Fuentes’ family also has a troubled history.

Fuentes’ older sister, now 21, sought legal emancipation in 2020 at the age of 16 from her biological mother, Tessa Cannon. A 13th Judicial District judge granted the daughter’s petition for emancipation in February 2021.

About a year later, the daughter sought a protection order from her mother and stepfather. In the petition, the daughter expressed concern for her two younger brothers, including John Fuentes, alleging abuses including “punching, slapping, shoving, pulling hair, spitting, use of weapons, throwing objects.”