Teen charged with murder in Saturday shooting
Levi Hill/News-Sun
The details leading up to a fight that resulted in the shooting death of a 35-year-old man remain unclear but a 17-year-old is facing a charge of first-degree murder in the shooting death.
The shooting took place around 10 p.m. Saturday at a hotel in the 200 block of North Marland. Officers were called at 10:02 p.m. and arrived to find Maharshi Bhakta, 35, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was transported to Covenant Health Hobbs Hospital where he later died.
Officers obtained a copy of surveillance video from the hotel, which showed an altercation between the victim and several male suspects who were seen entering an leaving an adjacent room.
According to the police report, the male suspects all entered a vehicle parked outside the room, then got back out and began fighting with Bhakta. Muzzle flashes from a firearm can be seen in the video and then the suspects fled the scene.
The gunshots took place after the fighting had stopped and, according to the report, Bhakta was not advancing on the group of suspects and no weapon was found on him.
Officers were able to track down the owner of the vehicle and it eventually led them to Dominic Elijah Diaz, 17, a Hobbs High School student, who was identified as the shooter by the other suspects and two female witnesses.
According to one witness, Diaz apologized for the shooting, stating he was “drunk.”
In New Mexico, first-degree murder is a capital felony and comes with a life sentence with parole eligibility after 30 years, if convicted. If aggravated circumstances are applied, the sentence is life without parole.
The shooting death is the second in two weeks to be allegedly carried out by a Hobbs teenager.
On Sept. 25, 19-year-old Brennon Smith of Hobbs was shot and killed in the 200 block of West Copper Ave. Officers arrested 15-year-old Marcellus Soto on Sept. 30 and charged him with first-degree murder and attempt to commit armed robbery for allegedly shooting Smith during an attempt to rob him of marijuana.
At the Hobbs City Commission meeting on Oct. 2, Commissioner and Hobbs School Board member Joe Calderon spoke out about the rise in violent crime among youth.
“We have a problem with our youth,” he said. “I don’t know where the mommas and daddies are. Our children are just going wild. It wasn’t that bad when I was working for the Hobbs schools. I couldn’t work with these kids nowadays. They have social media and everything else, but now they have guns.”
Calderon also teaches imprisoned youth at the detention center and said he works with several that have committed murder and what he sees today scares him.
“If some parents are listening, where are your children? Do you know where your children are,” he said. “I have been doing this, starting my 48th year teaching and I have never seen it so bad. I don’t know what to say anymore. My wife asked me the other day, ‘Is there any remorse?’ I don’t see any.”
