Deputy fired after stolen rifle linked to New Year's homicide
A Bernalillo County deputy lost his job after his issued AR-15 was stolen from his car and later tied to Albuquerque’s first homicide of 2026.
A rookie Bernalillo County deputy was fired after his county-issued AR-15 was stolen from his personal car and later linked to the New Year’s Day killing that became Albuquerque’s first homicide of 2026.
Sheriff John Allen said Deputy Jacob Zamora did not report the rifle missing, and that no one at the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office knew it had been stolen until investigators connected the weapon to a homicide. The trace ran through the serial number on the rifle’s lower receiver, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives helped identify the link.
The shooting happened in the early hours of New Year’s Day near 8th and Gold in Downtown Albuquerque, where Albuquerque police said 18-year-old Peyton Reagan shot and killed a 25-year-old man after a fight. Albuquerque police were still finishing their investigation into Zamora and the homicide as of April 14, and no charging decision had been announced.
Allen said he fired Zamora on April 14 because the deputy was still on probation in his first year of service, which allowed the agency to move more quickly. Zamora had graduated from the BCSO Academy in October 2025 and had been with the sheriff’s office for less than a year when the case surfaced.
Allen said Zamora’s conduct was irresponsible because the rifle was left unsecured in a vehicle and was not reported stolen when it disappeared. He said deputies are trained at the academy to secure their weapons, and he described the lapse as unprofessional, careless, irresponsible and reprehensible.
The case puts a spotlight on a chain of failures that extended from a parked car to a homicide scene downtown, and on the rules agencies use when they issue patrol rifles to deputies. It also raises a question Sandoval County residents watch closely whenever law enforcement carries military-style rifles off duty and into everyday life: how quickly a missing weapon is reported, and whether agencies have enough safeguards to catch the loss before a stolen gun is used in a killing.
Allen said any criminal charges would be up to the District Attorney’s Office, and that decision had not yet been made.
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