Police say Juan Maestas killed one man, wounded another and fired at a hospital security guard before his Saturday arrest.
ALBUQUERQUE, NM — A 36-year-old man charged in a deadly downtown shooting is also accused of opening fire in two other incidents before Albuquerque police arrested him Saturday morning, authorities said.
Juan Maestas was taken into custody Sept. 5 after a city bus driver recognized him from a police alert and called 911, according to the Albuquerque Police Department. Investigators have linked Maestas to three shootings beginning Sept. 2, including the Sept. 4 killing of 43-year-old Tavis Kimbrough near Second Street and Marquette Avenue NW. Police said another man was wounded in the earlier shooting, while a hospital security officer escaped injury in a third encounter.
The first shooting under investigation happened Sept. 2 near a Maverik gas station on Montgomery Boulevard NE. Police said a man had stopped for gas and was driving away with his daughter when he heard several gunshots. A bullet shattered the vehicle’s rear window and struck the man in his left arm. He was able to drive himself to a hospital for treatment. Detectives later identified Maestas as the suspected shooter after reviewing surveillance video and comparing images with photographs from earlier police contacts, authorities said.
Two days later, police responded at about 2:40 p.m. to a shooting near a bus stop in downtown Albuquerque. Investigators said Kimbrough was shot near Second Street and Marquette Avenue NW and died despite emergency medical treatment. Surveillance footage reviewed by detectives showed a man police identified as Maestas approaching people at the bus stop before an altercation and the shooting. Police obtained an arrest warrant charging Maestas with an open count of murder and tampering with evidence.
Authorities continued searching for Maestas into the night. Around 12:30 a.m. Saturday, police say he became involved in another confrontation at Presbyterian Hospital after a security officer attempted to remove him from the property. Investigators said Maestas struggled with the officer and fired a handgun at him. The officer was not struck. Police said Maestas also pointed the weapon toward another security guard before leaving the area on foot.
The search ended later Saturday morning after a city bus driver spotted Maestas aboard a bus and contacted police. Officers and personnel at the department’s Real Time Crime Center used surveillance cameras and a drone to track him near the Central Avenue and Unser Boulevard transit center. Police said officers approached Maestas at about 7:40 a.m., prompting him to move toward an arroyo and then run toward a nearby neighborhood.
Police said Maestas was carrying a handgun as officers pursued him. Officers used less-lethal force to take him into custody, and investigators said a handgun was recovered. No officers were reported injured during the arrest. Police have also alleged that Maestas threatened officers with the weapon during the encounter, though the precise additional charges associated with that allegation have varied in early reports and remained part of the continuing investigation.
Albuquerque police have not publicly established a motive connecting the shootings or said whether Maestas knew the people involved. Investigators described the incidents as separate shootings linked through their investigation. The department’s homicide statistics listed the Sept. 4 killing at 500 Second St. NW as solved following Maestas’ arrest. As of Sept. 5, APD reported 43 homicide victims in Albuquerque during 2026, compared with 50 at the same point in 2025.
Maestas was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center after his arrest. Police initially announced charges of an open count of murder and tampering with evidence in Kimbrough’s death while investigators pursued additional allegations connected to the Montgomery Boulevard and Presbyterian Hospital shootings. The criminal accusations remain allegations, and Maestas has not been convicted in connection with the cases.
Author note: Last updated September 8, 2026.