Zachary Gutierrez was arrested by Santa Fe police Feb. 12, following a report three days earlier of shots fired near Alto Park and a subsequent high-speed chase with a white Dodge Charger, according to a search warrant affidavit.
No one was harmed in the Feb. 9 incident in which police believe Gutierrez fired a handgun, ran from the Charger when they arrived at the scene and then fled in a blue pickup, according to the affidavit. A 19-year-old man who drove away in the Charger and led police on a chase was arrested a short time later.
In October, Gutierrez was arrested and charged in the killing of Richard Milan, 64, who was shot while walking his dog near the intersection of Airport Road and Lucia Lane on the night of Sept. 26. Milan and his wife had been their way home to Kalamazoo, Mich., following a trip to California, when they stopped to see family in Santa Fe. According to police, Milan encountered a group of teens and exchanged words with Gutierrez.
Milan was shot twice and died.
Police said at the time that Gutierrez, who had an extensive history of encounters with law enforcement, was believed to have started the altercation with Milan and stood over him, laughing, after shooting him. The teens then fled.
However, in late November, District Attorney Marco Serna dismissed the murder charge against Gutierrez, saying that his office did not have enough time to present the case to a grand jury before a mid-December deadline. In early November, Serna told The New Mexican the pursuit of an indictment against Gutierrez had to be postponed because his office was reviewing new information.
Gutierrez’s attorney at the time, Stephen Aarons, said he had given prosecutors an eyewitness video that showed the teen was a bystander and not the shooter.
The District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday in a statement that Gutierrez remained in custody and was still considered connected to Milan’s killing. The office declined to provide details.
The driver of the Charger in the Feb. 9 incident, Nathaniel Bueno-Diaz, was charged with fleeing from a law enforcement officer, leaving the scene of a car accident, possession of a firearm by a felon and tampering with evidence, according to a criminal complaint. Police said he led them on an extensive chase, ran red lights, drove into oncoming traffic and hit two vehicles.
The search warrant affidavit, filed in District Court on Friday, said Bueno-Diaz told investigators after his arrest that Gutierrez was his cousin and that the two had been trying to buy drugs when he saw Gutierrez fire several rounds from a Glock handgun with an extended magazine.
Bueno-Diaz said Gutierrez had attacked and stolen the gun from another man earlier that day. Bueno-Diaz told police that when officers pulled them over, Gutierrez pointed the Glock at him and told him to flee. Police said Bueno-Diaz threw a second handgun from his vehicle during the chase that ensued. That handgun has not been found, according to the affidavit.
