Man Takes Family to Restaurant After Road-Rage Killing

Albuquerque –

Detectives with the Albuquerque Police Department arrested Victor Rivera-Jimenez for the road-rage murder that occurred Friday afternoon .

Rivera-Jimenez, 35, is accused of fatally shooting Corsinio Martinez shortly after 7 PM on Friday as the men drove northbound on Unser Blvd. NW. A witness told police they saw and heard three gunshots fired from a black pickup truck before seeing the gray Hyundai Elantra, driven by Martinez, crash into a light pole north of Tierra Pintada Blvd on Unser.

Officers arrived and located Martinez, 30, with gunshot wounds inside his crashed car. He died at the scene.

APD’s Real Time Crime Center identified the vehicle involved in the shooting using automated license plate readers. The vehicle was identified as a black GMC Sierra owned by Rivera-Jimenez. It was located on Saturday and surveilled while detectives continued to investigate.

During the investigation, detectives located surveillance video showing Rivera-Jimenez with a woman and two children arrive at a restaurant after the shooting on Friday. They eventually got back in the truck and left the restaurant. Detectives determined the woman and children were in the truck at the time of the shooting.

Detectives secured an arrest warrant for Rivera-Jimenez. SWAT officers took him into custody late Saturday at a home in Southwest Albuquerque. Rivera-Jimenez confessed to the shooting. He alleged he was being followed and claimed to police he was in fear for his life.  

In connection with Friday’s road-rage murder, Rivera-Jimenez has been charged with an open count of murder, shooting at or from a motor vehicle, and two counts of abandonment or abuse of a child without death or great bodily harm. He was booked into the Metro Detention Center this morning at 8:42 AM.

In this current case, he will have a pre-trial detention hearing in the coming days.

In 2021, Rivera-Jimenez was charged with negligent use of a deadly weapon following a reported armed disturbance at a family gathering. According to a criminal complaint, multiple people were armed, including one person with a rifle and Rivera-Jimenez with a handgun equipped with a laser. The complaint states that the handgun was allegedly pointed by Rivera-Jimenez at people in the crowd, while rifle rounds were reportedly fired; however, it is unclear from the complaint who fired the rifle rounds. A white GMC truck was seen leaving the area, and Victor Rivera-Jimenez was identified by people at the gathering as the armed suspect who allegedly pointed a handgun at them. Rivera-Jimenez was detained by BCSO deputies and later charged with negligent use of a firearm.

He plead not guilty. In July 2021, he was sentenced to a pre-adjudication diversion program, and the case was ultimately dismissed with prejudice in June 2022.

In the 2021 case, Rivera-Jimenez was never convicted of the negligent use of a deadly weapon charge, and the case was ultimately dismissed with prejudice following his participation in the pre-adjudication diversion program. The case file was subsequently destroyed per NM Courts.