2 teenagers accused of shooting homeless man to death took photos of themselves with a gun, police say

A 23-year-old homeless man found dead in his tent was shot to death by two teenagers, according to New Mexico police.

Christopher Sturluson was living in an arroyo in Albuquerque before workers at the Albuquerque Community Safety Department found his body on the morning of May 1.

'We have two teenagers accused of killing a homeless person. The frustration level, quite frankly, is at a boiling point.'

Albuquerque Police Department officers responded after ShotSpotter alerts indicated that about 10 gunshots were fired around 9 p.m. April 30. Police talked to Sturluson, who told them that people had fired in his direction.

Later that same night, the ShotSpotter picked up another six gunshots in the same area between 10:15 and 11:50 p.m.

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Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

Police identified two suspects through surveillance video and later arrested 18-year-old Joshua Curtis as well as a 17-year-old. Police said they were able to recover bullet casings from the scene. Police also found photographs the pair allegedly had taken of themselves with a gun, according to a KOB-TV report.

The 17-year-old suspect turned out to be on juvenile probation after he was caught with a gun at Sandia High School in 2022. He was expelled from that school. The 18-year-old suspect has a criminal history that includes a pending case for assault on an officer.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman said the fatality is clear evidence that the system is broken.

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“We have two teenagers accused of killing a homeless person," said Bregman. "The frustration level, quite frankly, is at a boiling point. This will be, I believe, the 47th juvenile that we’ve charged with murder in this office since I’ve been district attorney."

Bregman has been calling for greater consequences for juvenile criminals.

“If we don’t start doing something, we will continue to see this kind of result. We’re not teaching our kids anything when we’re not giving them consequences,” Bregman added.

Bregman also said that "if convicted, this juvenile is facing the rest of his life in prison. We didn't do any justice for the poor homeless person that's dead, and we certainly didn't do any justice for the kid that's now charged with murder because we didn't teach him anything when we had the chance."

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