APD: Man arrested in second shooting since July

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Mariano Gallegos, 18, is charged with aggravated battery with great bodily harm in the shooting of 20-year-old Enrique Gonzalez, who is in critical condition.

Gallegos is also the suspect in a July 25 shooting during which police say he fired several shots into a truck with a family inside, striking the driver in the hand.

Prosecutors asked that Gallegos be held until trial in that case, but Judge Cristina Jaramillo denied the motion and released him with conditions.

Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office spokesman Michael Patrick attributed Gallegos’ release to his lack of a criminal history.

“Now within weeks of his release Gallegos has escalated his level of violence shooting a second victim twice, leaving him clinging to life in a local hospital,” Patrick said.

As part of his release, Gallegos was required to stay away from guns, drugs and not leave his home – except for school a few hours a day – which is where police say he shot Gonzalez on Thursday evening.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, Gonzalez pulled into the McDonald’s at San Pedro and Lomas NE, honking his horn and asking bystanders to call police because he had been shot before getting out of the car and falling to the ground.

Police say Gonzalez was taken to the hospital where he told officers Gallegos had shot him at his house down the street from the McDonald’s.

According to the complaint, officers set up a perimeter around the home on the 300 block of Cagua NE and called out several people from inside, including Gallegos.

Gallegos told police he was in Gonzalez’s car outside his house earlier when Gonzalez showed him a gun.

Police say Gallegos told officers he went back inside the house because he didn’t want to be “around any guns” due to him being on probation.

Gallegos told police he heard the gunshots and didn’t know what happened but that Gonzalez “most likely shot himself.”

Police say Gallegos mentioned that the two were friends but Gonzalez was “upset with him because he had sex with his girlfriend.”

Another man at the scene told police “an argument” occurred with Gonzalez in front of the house before he heard gunfire but would not give any other details.

Gallegos’ arrest comes on the heels of another shooting police say he committed on July 25 and faces a slew of charges including shooting at or from a motor vehicle, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and drug possession.

Police say Gallegos shot into a truck with a family inside, including a 14-year-old boy, as they drove near Central and Wyoming SE.

The driver was shot in the hand and officers used police dogs to track down Gallegos in a backyard a few blocks away.

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