ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A months-long shooting spree on I-25 north of Albuquerque landed a New Mexico man in federal prison. Now, years later, some of the victims in the case are getting a big payout after claiming New Mexico State Police should have done more to protect the public from that gunman.
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Driving from their Chimayo home to Albuquerque in April 2020, Pat and Jennifer Martinez were among the drivers whose car was shot on I-25 north of Albuquerque, near the Santo Domingo Pueblo exit. The couple sued the state in 2022, claiming authorities knew of at least 19 prior such shootings, but failed to investigate the crime spree or warn the public. “Lots and lots of people would’ve made the decision had they known there was somebody on the loose, shooting randomly at cars, that that’s not a risk we would’ve wanted to have taken,” said Laura Schauer Iver, Partner with Ives & Flores Attorneys.
The feds later arrested Byron Rosetta, saying he was at the center of the months-long shooting spree, hitting cars on I-25. Federal prosecutors later got Rosetta to plead guilty in a case where he admitted to shooting at cars between Albuquerque and Santa Fe from January through early April 2020. Rosetta is from the Kewa Pueblo and was sentenced to a decade in federal prison in 2023…