On the night of July 4, 2023, the life of 26-year-old Eduardo Montes was tragically cut short in his basement apartment on Second Street in Albany, New York. At approximately 11:45 p.m., police responded to reports of a shooting and discovered Montes with a gunshot wound to his torso. Despite efforts to render aid, he was pronounced dead at the scene. The incident was the city's 11th homicide of the year.
Neighbors remembered Montes as a devoted father to his newborn son, who was only a few weeks old.
The investigation into the shooting revealed that Montes had been involved in a fight with a man he knew inside the apartment. The altercation escalated, resulting in Montes being shot with a handgun. On July 20, 2023, Albany police arrested 24-year-old Thaddeus Planas-Dove in connection with the fatal shooting. He was subsequently charged with second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
Thaddeus Planas-Dove was arraigned in Albany City Court and sent to the Albany County jail. In the ensuing legal process, a grand jury did not return an indictment on the murder charge. On January 12, 2024, Planas-Dove pleaded guilty to the charge of criminal possession of a weapon. His attorney claimed that during a confrontation, a gun fell to the floor and both men reached for it. On March 21, 2024, Thaddeus Planas-Dove was sentenced to five years in state prison, followed by five years of post-release supervision for the weapons conviction.
