Two men have been charged for allegedly beating a man bloody in the Alcalde Dollar General over what the victim believed may be retaliation for a missed stop by the Blue Bus.
After an extensive investigation, New Mexico State Police Officer Jerome Martinez charged Leonardo Torrez, 48, of Albuquerque and Edward Torrez, 81, of Alcalde, with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, assault, tampering with evidence and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
The alleged beating took place on June 7, but Martinez was not able to identify Leonardo Torrez, Edward Torrez’s relative, until a few days later, with the help of a State Police investigator.
Martinez filed the charges on June 17, followed by an amended complaint adding a conspiracy charge on July 22. The pair are set to be arraigned this week in Española magistrate court.
When Martinez got to the store on June 7, merchandise was scattered around the front of the store and a trail of blood led to two distinct pools next to a stack of plastic packing containers and other displays.
“The entirety of the scene with store merchandise thrown on the floor, display items knocked over, and blood pools was clearly indicative of a violent altercation,” he wrote.
Another officer took a statement from the victim, who said that he was walking in the store when Leonardo Torrez was walking behind him, and he asked him to stop. The man, a driver for the North Central Regional Transit District, said he recognized Leonardo Torrez from an incident where he had to remove him from the bus.
He asked Leonardo Torrez if he remembered him, with a negative response. Leonardo Torrez then shoved him, clenched his fists and starting punching him. Then Edward Torrez started beating him with a wooden walking stick, left behind and collected as evidence, Martinez wrote.
Leonardo Torrez then put the man in a headlock and he nearly lost consciousness. After beating him up, they left the store. Then, they took photos of the man’s vehicle and one of them threw items into it before leaving in a white Buick, Martinez wrote.
Martinez wrote that on June 24, 2024, the bus driver skipped a stop at Leonardo Torrez’s bus stop because a construction zone made it inaccessible, and that he believed he may have been recognized inside the store and attacked for that incident. Martinez got evidence from Leonardo Torrez waiting at the bus stop in 2024.
Surveillance footage showed the driver standing in line for the register with a basket full of Gatorade bottles, when Leonardo Torrez walked around the store, then came back to Edward Torrez, two people further ahead in line, he wrote.
Leonardo Torrez went to the front of the store, made a hand gesture, then approached the driver from behind, said something to him and shoved him, then started punching him in the face. Edward Torrez, circling around a merchandise aisle, then joins in the attack, beating the man with his walking stick, then punching and kicking him while he is on the floor, Martinez wrote.
Martinez later had an investigator get a photo of Leonardo Torrez and had the man identify him from a photo array, he wrote.
Leonardo Torrez has no prior criminal history in New Mexico state courts and Edward Torrez only has a burglary charge from the 1980s.