Prosecutors are asking that Ricky Romero, accused of fatally shooting his father, April 20, in Truchas, be held without bail pending trial on a charge of second-degree murder.
Prosecutor Kent Wahlquist wrote in the April 28 motion that the evidence against Romero, 18, is strong, as he admitted to New Mexico State Police investigators that he killed his father. Romero has no prior criminal record.
A combined preliminary and dangerousness hearing is set for Wednesday (5/7) in Tierra Amarilla. Among the people set to testify is Shari Buckley of the NM Connections Academy, an online charter school. She is being called as a witness by Romero’s attorney. No public records show what her position at the school is.
The hearing is estimated to last three hours. At the end, District Judge Jason Lidyard will likely make a decision on what charges, if any, Romero should be bound over on in district court and if he should be held as a danger to the community.
State Police investigators also received a video of an argument between Romero and his father, Fernando Romero, 44, from the father’s friend, State Police Agent Esquivel-Mata wrote in an affidavit for an arrest warrant.
That video was given to police by Thomas Cordova, the father’s friend. He’s the one who initially called 911 and was on the phone with Ricky Romero’s grandmother, Debra Romero, when the incident happened, and he reported hearing four to seven shots fired while he was on the phone with her.
He told investigators that the father and son got into a heated argument on May 9, 2024, which Fernando Romero recorded. He gave investigators two videos. In the first, Ricky Romero was holding an AK-47-style rifle while arguing with his father, Esquivel-Mata wrote.
“During the confrontation Ricky is observed pulling up the rifle and pointing the muzzle towards Fernando touching his phone, Ricky is heard saying, ‘don’t (expletive) with me ese, cause I’m gonna blast you if you touch me! I’ll point it right at his (expletive) face, ill (sic) break his cheap (expletive) phone and he’s gonna die, he’s gonna die!’” Esquivel-Mata wrote. “Thomas recalled receiving the video from Fernando and being asked to share it if anything ever happened to him.”
Ricky Romero’s story
Ricky Romero told officers that he was talking to his grandmother, Debra, and she tried putting her hand underneath his chin in an upward manner to get him to bite his tongue. In response, he pinched her shirt. This act of retaliation led to an argument and he was asked to leave. He started walking away and his father threw a piece of firewood at him, nearly hitting him, Esquivel-Mata wrote.
Ricky Romero grabbed some gravel from the ground and threw it at his father, who then jumped over the porch toward him. Ricky Romero ran into the house, locking the door behind him. He then took a shower while his father got into an argument with his mother, accusing her of “explicit acts” which angered him, he wrote.
Ricky Romero locked his dad out of the house again and then Fernando Romero pointed a .38-caliber pistol at him through a small window above the front door, yelling, “Imma kill you,” Esquivel-Mata wrote.
Fernando Romero got back into the house through a back door, Ricky Romero grabbed a pistol from his dad’s side of the bed and his father screamed “Do it you (expletive) punk” before charging at him. He then shot his father.
“Ricky described thinking, ‘not gonna touch me, not gonna touch my mom’ prior to firing the weapon,” Esquivel-Mata wrote.
He said he did CPR on his dad and tried to shoot him in the belly, he wrote.
“Ricky described Fernando as abusive and claimed his sister, mother and he endured abuse for several years from Fernando,” Esquivel-Mata wrote
Fernando Romero
In an obituary, Fernando Romero’s death is described as leaving a void in the hearts of the people who knew and loved him. He was a general contractor and heavy equipment operator and “jack of all trades who took pride in all he did.”
He was married to his wife for 21 years and they had three children, including Ricky Romero.