NEWS
UNM students among group that killed man in Frontier ambush, police say
Four men have been charged in what police say was a 'highly coordinated attack'
Published
Two University of New Mexico students and their alleged accomplices are behind bars following a fatal shooting Wednesday night in the alley behind the Frontier Restaurant.
Tenard Weekly, 20, a sophomore studying criminology, and Jaylen Hopewell, 20, a junior studying psychology, are charged alongside Evan Rogers, 24, and Junior Lewis, 19, with an open count of murder in the death of 23-year-old Eden Rock.
Police say the group hid behind a dumpster and Weekly 鈥� who had been trading threats with Rock all day 鈥� opened fire on Rock as he walked down the alley with a woman.
Lewis and Rogers were arrested at Rogers鈥� Lobo Village apartment before officers tracked down Weekly and Hopewell. Lewis is also charged with drug possession after an arresting officer allegedly found a bag of cocaine on him.
All four have been booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center.
Prosecutors filed a motion to detain the suspects, saying the killing was 鈥減lanned.鈥�
鈥淭his behavior is extreme, dangerous and shows an absolute disregard for human life,鈥� according to the motion.
Officers responded around 10:50 p.m. to a shooting behind the Frontier and found Rock with a gunshot wound to the head, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. He died at a hospital.
Surveillance video captured four people 鈥� later identified as Weekly, Lewis, Rogers and Hopewell 鈥� exit a Jeep in the back parking lot of the eatery and hide behind a dumpster.
Police said Rock and the woman exited the Frontier and were walking past the dumpster when the group attacked him and gunshots could be heard. The video showed that when the group approached, the woman 鈥渃almly鈥� turned and walked away as if 鈥渁ware of the preplanned attack.鈥�
sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Police Department spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said video caught Weekly firing a gun at Rock before walking closer and firing a second shot. The group then got back into the Jeep and fled.
Police said they used traffic cameras to track the Jeep to Lobo Village, where all four were seen walking toward Rogers鈥� apartment. Officers arrested Lewis and Rogers at the apartment Thursday.
Rogers identified the other two as Weekly and Hopewell and said 鈥渢here had been an argument and threats made between鈥� Rock and Weekly 鈥渁ll day prior to the shooting,鈥� according to the complaint. He told police the group went to the Frontier to confront Rock as he left the restaurant and he had seen Weekly with a gun earlier in the day.
Court records show Weekly has a pending trial in a December case where he allegedly pushed and threatened to shoot a woman inside his on-campus apartment. The woman told UNM police that Weekly appeared to have a gun on him at the time, but a search of his apartment turned up no weapons. He was charged with battery.
