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Detectives have arrested a 19-year-old who chased down and shot and killed a man who he said tried to rob him at the Wells Park Community Center Tuesday afternoon, according to court documents.

The victim has been tentatively identified, but officers had not yet released his name late Wednesday, saying they need to contact his family first.

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A witness told police that around 2 p.m. he heard several gunshots and saw a man bending over another man in the parking lot of the community center, located at Fifth and Mountain NW. The suspect then fled the area, driving erratically. The witness gave detectives the license plate number of the car, and they traced the car to Damian Hidalgo.

When detectives caught up with Hidalgo in his Southeast Albuquerque apartment Tuesday evening, he said he had shot the victim, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

He said he had received a text message Tuesday morning asking if he wanted to buy marijuana and arranged to meet with a man at the community center that afternoon.

Hidalgo told detectives that when he arrived at the center, a man he believed to be the seller climbed into his car. But instead of selling him marijuana, the man took out a pocketknife and demanded his wallet, according to the complaint.

Hidalgo gave the man his wallet and the man got out of the car and began to run away. That’s when Hidalgo told police he got a gun from under his seat and shot the man in the back.

Hidalgo told police that after he fired the first shot, he approached the man, who was lying on his back on the sidewalk leading to the community center. The man continued to yell at him and threaten him with the knife, Hidalgo told officers.

“Mr. Hidalgo told the male that he wanted his wallet back, but the male kept cursing at him,” a detective wrote in the complaint. “Mr. Hidalgo approached the male within ‘an arm-and-a-half to two arms-lengths’ away and fired into the man’s head.”

Then Hidalgo said he rummaged through the dead man’s pockets and got his wallet back. He said he left the scene and continued about his day, and was not planning on telling law enforcement about the killing.

Hidalgo was charged with an open count of murder and was booked into the county jail Wednesday.