A New Mexico man is accused of fatally shooting his cousin after a night of drinking spiraled into a dispute over green enchiladas, according to reports.
Ervin Joaquin Gutierrez, 22, was arrested on murder charges after police said he allegedly killed his cousin, 25-year-old Nathaniel Cavazos, at an Albuquerque apartment complex on Thursday evening.
Gutierrez had gone to the apartment earlier that afternoon to visit Cavazos and another cousin, authorities said. The three relatives bought groceries, returned to the residence, and began preparing green enchiladas while drinking alcohol, according to an affidavit obtained by NBC News.
As they ate, Gutierrez repeatedly insisted that the chile on his enchiladas was spicier than the chile on Cavazos’s plate, and he urged his cousin to taste it, the affidavit said.
Cavazos pushed back, saying they were all eating the same enchiladas, meaning there should not have been any difference in heat or spice level, according to investigators.
The argument continued to build despite the third cousin’s attempt to defuse the situation by suggesting they take his dog for a walk. Once outside, Cavazos and Gutierrez began fighting, the third cousin told police.
Cavazos struck Gutierrez hard enough to make him bleed, then started to walk away from the confrontation, according to the witness account.
Gutierrez then allegedly pulled out a handgun and shouted, “We’re family! We’re family! How could you do this to me?” before firing three or four shots toward Cavazos, striking him in the back, the witness told investigators.
Cops arrived around 11 p.m. and found Cavazos dead in a pool of blood on a walkway between apartment buildings, the outlet reported.
A handgun belonging to Cavazos was also found roughly ten yards from his body.
The third relative who witnessed the shocking killing showed investigators a Snapchat message sent by Gutierrez, who had fled the scene, saying that Cavazos had threatened his life.
“Is he really dead?” Gutierrez allegedly wrote. “I did not want to kill him, but I didn’t want him to kill me.”
Gutierrez was arrested late Friday and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on an open count of murder, jail records show.
