Man arrested for Isleta murder

ISLETA — A man is in federal custody after allegedly shooting and killing a member of the Pueblo of Isleta, then fleeing with his pregnant girlfriend.

According to the criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court on Saturday, Jan. 10, Bonifacio Silva, 18, has been charged with second-degree murder and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence in connection to the shooting death of an Isleta man on Friday, Jan. 9.

The FBI put out a “Wanted” bulletin for Silva on Monday, Jan. 12, and the Albuquerque FBI field office reported he was captured on Tuesday, Jan. 13, but didn’t release any details about his apprehension.

In a letter to U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura Fashing, Pueblo of Isleta Gov. Eugene Jiron asked the judge to carefully consider the risks and potential harm that could arise from Silva’s release.

Jiron describes the Pueblo as a “close-knit community with strong, interwoven relationships,” continuing “the crimes committed by Mr. Silva have left a lasting impact on our community and forever changed the lives of many, including a young family.”

The governor wrote community members fear for their safety and that of their families.

At Silva’s preliminary/detention hearing on Thursday, Jan. 15, Fashing ordered him remanded to the custody of the United States Marshal’s Service pending trial.

Shortly before 3 p.m., Friday, Jan. 9, FBI Special Agent Adam Barrangan was contacted by the Isleta Police Department about an argument resulting in a shooting on the Pueblo of Isleta. In Barrangan’s affidavit in support of the criminal complaint against and arrest warrant for Silva, the victim is only identified as T.J., an Isleta man born in 1996.

When Barrangan arrived at the home in the 3000 block of N.M. 47 in Isleta, he was told Silva, who is not a member of the Pueblo, had fled the scene with his pregnant girlfriend, a member of the Pueblo of Isleta, in a 2023 silver Dodge Challenger.

The victim, T.J., was found on the ground outside the home and despite life-saving measures, succumbed to his injuries at the scene.

As IPD officers were responding to the call for the shooting, Silva and his girlfriend were pulled over on a traffic stop but the officer didn’t know Silva was possibly connected to the incident. They told the officer the young woman was going into labor and they needed to get to a hospital, so he released them from the stop, according to the affidavit.

A witness at the scene saw T.J. “falling to the ground and thought that Silva was on the passenger side of the vehicle and had shot” him. The witness said Silva and the victim might have been in a verbal and physical fight earlier in the day, but didn’t see the altercation himself.

Based on the information he gathered at the scene, Barrangan felt Silva’s 37-week pregnant girlfriend could be in danger, so he requested and received permission to perform an “emergency ping” on Silva’s cellphone to determine her location.

The ping showed the phone was near the 5000 block of Anderson Ave. SW in Albuquerque. The information provided by the ping was a large area and agents couldn’t find Silva or the vehicle.

At around 7 p.m. that evening, IPD officers received a call about an argument at the girlfriend’s father’s home on Potomac Circle in Albuquerque.

They found her and the Dodge Charger at that location. She told officers she dropped Silva off near Central and San Mateo in Albuquerque before going to the house on Potomac.

According to the girlfriend, who is identified as Jane Doe in the affidavit, she and Silva were living with her grandparents at the home on N.M. 47. While she wasn’t at home, she was told T.J. was drunk and assaulted a family member on the day of the shooting. Silva tried to intervene and the man allegedly went after Silva with a pocketknife.

Jane Doe returned to the home, with plans to leave with Silva to let things cool off. As they were leaving, T.J. confronted Silva.

“According to Jane Doe, (T.J.) was aggressive at this time and Silva was calm,” the affidavit reads.

The two got into the Charger, with Jane Doe driving and Silva in the front passenger seat. As they were driving away, T.J. banged on or hit the car. She told T.J. through her open window to go inside the house. He approached the open window, bent over and looked into the vehicle.

According to Jane Doe’s statement to the FBI agent, T.J. “had one hand partially in the vehicle and the other hand was by his waistband.” She never saw a weapon or object in his hands.

“The next thing Jane Doe recognized was a loud noise followed by a tasing or ‘zing’ on her left arm and then she saw (T.J.) laying down next to the vehicle ... and she saw the bleeding coming from (T.J.’s) chest,” the affidavit reads.

Silva reportedly told her to leave and she told Barrangan she didn’t know if he was going to shoot her or kill others at the scene, so she drove away.

When the two were pulled over by the IPD officer, she lied and said she was going into labor, “because she did not know if Silva would have killed her and the police officer.”