Belen man charged with shooting at teenagers; no injuries

BELEN—A Belen man wanted for shooting at a carload of teenagers last month has been arrested and charges have been filed.

Belen Police Deputy Chief Mario Vallejos said the incident started at about 7 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 18, in the parking lot of Dollar General in Belen.

“Officers were first dispatched to 508 S. Main Street, which is the parking lot at Dollar General ... Officers were originally dispatched for a call about a fight between a bunch of teenage kids that started out verbal but was escalating into physical,” Vallejos said.

As officers were driving to the location, they were alerted by the Valencia Regional Emergency Communication Center that shots had been fired at one of the fleeing vehicles.

“When officers arrived, they found out from some of the teens there that the opposing group was leaving, and a family member, an adult by the name of Joseph Bolagh, arrived and exits his vehicle,” Vallejos said. “He pulls up, gets out of his vehicle and pulls out a handgun. As he was standing in the doorway, he fires at least six shots at the fleeing vehicles.”

The deputy police chief said one of the vehicles, occupied by four teenagers, was leaving the parking lot on Bernard Avenue, and was turning south on Main Street when the shots were fired. According to the criminal complaint, one of the people inside the vehicle reported feeling a “bullet pass by the right side of his face, heard a whistle, and it went out the front windshield.”

Another witness reported he was in the parking lot at the time of the shooting and said he heard multiple gunshots being fired. According to the complaint, he told officers one of those shots hit his truck.

Vallejos did say no one was hurt during the incident. The deputy chief doesn’t know the nature of the initial argument between the two sets of teens, only that it was a long-standing feud stemming from school.

Bolagh, 45, was identified by several witnesses at the scene and by surveillance video of him and his vehicle.

After an arrest warrant was issued, police went to his home on Don Felipe Road on Tuesday, Aug. 20. Vallejos said the suspect was taken into custody without incident.

Vallejos said a search warrant for Bolagh’s home and two vehicles in an attempt to recover the gun, but officers didn’t find one.

Joseph Bolagh is charged with six fourth-degree felonies, including shooting at or from a motor vehicle and five counts of aggravated assault. He was released from the Valencia County Detention Center on Friday, Sept. 6, on a third-party release through pre-trial services.