Three Arrested in Connection With March Northern Meadows Shooting

A cross-jurisdictional investigation into a March 11 shooting in Rio Rancho's Northern Meadows neighborhood ended with three arrests after detectives tracked a silver Dodge Charger to a Whataburger parking lot in Albuquerque, where officers found loaded firearms, a stolen modified weapon, and a 16-year-old in apparent possession of an AR-style rifle.

Jabsie Lewis, 19, of Albuquerque, was arrested March 16 by the Rio Rancho Police Department and faces the most detailed list of charges in the public record: unlawful possession of a weapon conversion device, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and two counts of receipt, transportation or possession of a firearm or destructive device by a felon. If convicted on those counts, Lewis faces more than five years in prison.

The encounter at 6100 Alameda Blvd. unfolded after detectives identified the Charger in connection with their Northern Meadows investigation. Surveillance led officers to observe a juvenile enter the vehicle while apparently carrying an AR-style firearm. Officers stopped the car, broke a passenger window to gain visibility into the interior, and removed the 16-year-old from the vehicle. Two firearms were confiscated from the juvenile. A stolen, modified gun was also recovered from inside the Charger.

A third individual, an adult male who had briefly met with the Charger's occupants at the Whataburger lot, was also detained for questioning. Court records for that man and the juvenile do not fully detail their charges in publicly available filings.

Rio Rancho detectives worked in cooperation with Albuquerque and Bernalillo County law enforcement throughout the investigation, a collaboration that proved central to tracking individuals and vehicles across municipal lines. The March 11 shooting set off the inquiry, though not all three arrestees have been formally identified as the shooter in that incident.

Questions about motive, the shooter's identity, and whether additional prosecutions will follow remain unresolved as the investigation continues.