On a summer evening in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the life of 32-year-old Roderick D. Thompson II, a Black/African American male, was tragically cut short. The date was August 16, 2021, and what began as a routine stop at a gas station on the corner of Indian School and San Mateo in the northeast part of the city soon spiraled into a fatal encounter.
While his wife was inside the convenience store to pay, Thompson was at the gas pump when two men pulled up beside him.
Security footage from the gas station captured the harrowing moments that followed. One of the individuals, later identified as 20-year-old Darien Mells, is seen pulling a pistol from his waistband. Thompson initially lunged towards Mells, but two gunshots rang out in quick succession. The second shot found its mark, and Thompson fell to the ground, having been shot in the head. The two men then fled the scene, leaving a devastating and senseless act of violence in their wake.
In the aftermath of the shooting, law enforcement launched an investigation into the homicide. Their efforts eventually led to the identification and arrest of Darien Mells as the primary suspect in the murder of Roderick Thompson. An unnamed accomplice who was with Mells at the time of the incident was also taken into custody. The community was left to mourn the loss of a man in the prime of his life, a victim of sudden and brutal gun violence.
