Ricky Romero, charged with first degree murder for allegedly fatally shooting his father April 20 in Truchas, had the question of his competency raised one day ahead of a planned hearing to see if he is a danger to the community.
The motion to determine competency was presumably filed by Romero’s attorney, but court records only show that the competency motion was filed on May 7.
A court docket shows that the following day, a detention and preliminary hearing were held, to see if Romero should be held without bail pending trial and if the charge of first degree murder should be bound over.
What happened during that hearing is unclear, and a status conference was set for May 27.
First Judicial District Attorney’s Office Spokeswoman Catherine Lynch wrote in an email, in response to a question of whether Romero was found to be a danger, and if the hearing went forward, to “check back in” following the status hearing set for May 27.
Among the people who had been subpoenaed to testify at the hearing is Shari Buckley of the NM Connections Academy, an online charter school. She was set to be called by Romero’s attorney. No public records show what her position at the school is.
Romero, 18, told New Mexico State Police investigators that problems started when his grandmother tried to physically shut his mouth so he would bite his own tongue and in retaliation, he pinched her shirt, which led to an argument and he was told to leave the house, State Police Agent Ezequiel Esquivel-Mata wrote in an affidavit for an arrest warrant.
Once outside, his father, Fernando Romero, 44, threw a piece of firewood at him, he threw gravel at his father, and his father started chasing him, Esquivel-Mata wrote based on his interrogation of Ricky Romero.
That pattern repeated itself, with Fernando Romero pointing a gun at his son at one point before Ricky Romero grabbed his dad’s gun and shot at him as his dad charged at him, he wrote.
“Ricky said he then fired the pistol once and struck Fernando in the chest,” Esquivel-Mata wrote. “Ricky described not seeing Fernando with any weapons in his hands and did not know the whereabouts of the revolver he previously observed. Ricky described thinking, ‘not gonna touch me, not gonna touch my mom’ prior to firing the weapon.”