The gunshot victim died on the way to an Albuquerque hospital
Española Police were investigating a shooting Friday morning that occurred on Calle de Pajarito.
The incident happened around 6:30 a.m. The victim, later identified as Leon Salazar, 38, of Española, called 911 to report that he was shot in Pajarito and was waiting in a white car, according to the Española/Rio Arriba E911 Center call logs.
“Male said he was going to dy (sic) and hung up,” the dispatcher typed in the log.
Another caller phoned 911 at 6:39 a.m. and reported hearing five gunshots fired from the Pajarito area.
It said the man had a gunshot wound to the face and the abdomen, however on Friday, Española Police Chief Mizel Garcia said the man was shot in the neck and abdomen and was flown to The University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque. At the time, Garcia didn’t know the condition of the man but later that day, he said the man, whom he still had not identified, had died.
Garcia said on Friday, that detectives were securing two scenes — one in Pajarito, the other at Dandy’s Burgers. The white Infiniti car Salazar was driving sat in the Dandy’s Burgers parking lot around 7:30 a.m. Friday, surrounded by crime scene tape and three EPD vehicles.
Garcia provided the man’s identity on Monday and said his next of kin had been notified.
He said so far, there are no suspects or motive for the shooting, but the incident remains under investigation. He said officers planned to execute a search warrant on Salazar’s car Tuesday and he would have more information after that was completed. Executing the search warrant was delayed because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, he said.
Garcia said when officers arrived, there was no one in the car with Salazar. He did say there evidence at the scene but didn’t say what it was.