On a tragic Saturday, January 22, 2022, the life of Allen Riley Sandoval, a 25-year-old White/Caucasian male from Albuquerque, New Mexico, was cut short. He was fatally shot inside a residence on Sunset Gardens Road S.W. The incident prompted a 911 call that morning, reporting that a male had entered the home and shot another male. When officers arrived, they found Allen Sandoval deceased at the scene.
Friends and family remember him as a kind-hearted, hilarious, and humble individual.
The investigation into Allen's death quickly pointed to a suspect, 21-year-old Fransisco Espinoza Almeida Jr. According to witnesses at the residence, Almeida, who was the ex-boyfriend of a woman present at the home, arrived and began banging on the front door. He then forced his way inside the house.
After gaining entry, Almeida proceeded down a hallway to a back bedroom where Allen Sandoval was located. It was there that Almeida allegedly shot Sandoval multiple times before fleeing the scene in a vehicle that witnesses recognized. Two days later, on January 24, 2022, Fransisco Espinoza Almeida Jr. was apprehended by the New Mexico State Police in the northern part of the state. He was taken back to Albuquerque, where he was charged with an open count of murder and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center.
