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Crime

On March 25th, 2022, 19-year-old Diamond Salazar and 17-year-old Caprice Sicilia went to Columbus Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to purchase marijuana.

Things didn’t go as planned, and the two were pistol-whipped and robbed by two masked men. The perpetrators took a phone, money, and other belongings in the attack before fleeing the scene.

Salazar and Sicilia tracked the phone and went to a nearby Maverick gas station, thinking the robbers were in the area.

Soon, 16-year-old Ty Ashton Gallegos, 16-year-old Adam Sedillo, and 15-year-old Estevan Damian Lucero met up with the girls. The three boys had loaded guns and revenge on their minds.

At 8:40pm, as the five friends were loitering in the parking lot, a black SUV driven by Johnathan Dematties pulled into the gas station.

He and his fiancée, 28-year-old Kayla Montaño, Montaño’s 7-year-old daughter, and two others were on their way to have fun at Top Golf, but their plans were derailed.

Salazar saw the SUV and thought it looked like one she had seen at the park earlier when she and Sicilia were robbed. She yelled, “That’s it!” several times, then she stood back as the three teen boys opened fire.

They fired 30 shots as Dematties fled to safety. He was hit in the back and had a graze wound to his head, but he survived. His fiancée died two miles away from the gas station. Her daughter and the two other passengers were unharmed.

The five teens fled the scene in two separate cars.

Detectives obtained surveillance video and identified one of the vehicles’ license plates. The car was registered to Sicilia.

Police questioned her in April, and she told them about the robbery at the park and who was at the gas station later that night. After that, the pieces fell into place, and authorities identified and arrested all five teens.

They were all charged with open murder, shooting at a murder vehicle, and conspiracy to commit murder.

The five criminals also learned that the SUV and its occupants had nothing to do with the robbery.

Convictions

Gallegos, Lucero, and Sedillo were each offered the opportunity to plead guilty to second-degree murder if they would testify against Salazar, but all three refused the offer.

Instead, each pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder.

In July 2024, Gallegos was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Lucero was facing up to 24 years in prison. He was sentenced to 22 years on October 18th, 2024.

Salazar’s trial started on August 5th, 2024. She threw in the towel on the third day and accepted a plea deal. She is pleading guilty to second-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

She was facing up to 24 years in prison. On October 18th, 2024, the judge sentenced her to 19 years.

Sedillo was facing up to 10 years in prison. When he went to court on February 4th, 2025, the judge gave him the maximum.

Sicilia, who testified against Salazar, had her charges dismissed.