Content warning: Some may find the video hard to watch.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – For the first time, KRQE News 13 is hearing from the man accused of shooting to death a 14-year-old in a University of New Mexico (UNM) dorm room. Newly released security video shows the moments before UNM police arrive, and the interview he later gave to investigators. The video shows an event that occurs after the shooting, which is both shocking and unexpected. And when interviewed by police, the suspect doesn’t mention it.
“I was, like, I couldn’t believe what I did,” 18-year-old suspect John Fuentes told New Mexico State Police (NMSP) investigators.
On July 24, police responded to an on-campus dorm to reports of shots fired. A 19-year-old was shot and injured, and a 14-year-old, Michael Lamotte, was found dead in the room. Lamotte’s older stepbrother was also in the room. John Fuentes, 18, is charged with the boy’s murder.
In the video, an officer can be heard asking Fuentes,
“What brought you to UNM?”
Fuentes responded, “Usually, I just go hang out at [student]’s dorm, and we just hang out, watch a movie. Or not a movie, but, like, play at [sic] his PlayStation or whatever. And smoke, like, marijuana, nicotine, like what everybody does.”
Fuentes told officers that he was hanging out at a friend’s dorm room. That same friend he said he’s offered acid and cocaine. He tells police he was peer-pressured into taking the drugs. He also says he and his friends were looking at two guns they had.
“And then, I remember [student] was, he would push me, ‘take another line, take another line, take another line’. And I remember to the point where I was, I couldn’t even think. I remember I was just, I just remember blacking out,” Fuentes told them.
Fuentes said that at that point, the gun he was holding was fired. But he told officers he doesn’t remember how it happened or if he shot anyone. “I could have, but I’m not, I’m not 100% sure. That’s why I can’t say. But I’m pretty sure I did, because I don’t even, who else would? It literally said on the news that there, one’s injured, one’s deceased.”
In the video, he took off and tried to ask people to help him, but they took off. Fuentes ended up throwing the gun’s magazine and did something completely unexpected after a shooting. He did a backflip that he actually landed. He grabbed the magazine, took off, and ended up on the roof of a building. He then said he called his dad to help him. His uncle later picked him up from the campus with his girlfriend. It isn’t until the end of the interview that he finds out who actually died in the room.
The investigator said, “The little brother, he’s 14, and he’s dead.”
Fuentes can be seen in the video breaking down in tears from the news.
Records from the office of the medical examiner show Lamotte did not have any drugs in his system. Fuentes is being held until his trial.
