Police Say Killing Tied To Gangs

By John Lyon
times record • jlyon@swtimes.com


A Fort Smith man died early Tuesday as a result of what appears to be a gang-related shooting, police said.

Nestor Alexander Tejada-Pacheco, 27, was pronounced dead shortly after midnight at Sparks Regional Medical Center, Fort Smith police Sgt. Jarrard Copeland said. Tejada-Pacheco was dropped off at the hospital by people who left before police arrived, he said.

Tejada-Pacheco appeared to have a single gunshot wound to the chest, according to a police report.

Witnesses later contacted police and said they had been traveling in a vehicle with Tejada-Pacheco when a red Ford Explorer began following them, according to an affidavit for a search warrant. One of the witnesses told police both vehicles were stopped at a stop sign when one person stepped out of the Explorer and fired three shots at the other vehicle.

Tejada-Pacheco had opened a vehicle door and was leaning out when the shooting occurred, the witness told police. The witness said he then saw that Tejada-Pacheco was bleeding from the chest.

Copeland said the witnesses’ statements contain some discrepancies, but investigators believe the shooting occurred at the intersection of North 14th and L streets and did involve people in two vehicles. At least three people were in the Explorer and at least four people were in the other vehicle, he said.

People in the Explorer flashed gang signs prior to the shooting, a witness reported. Copeland said the occupants of the Explorer were members of the Mexican gang Florencia 13, or FX13, and the occupants of the other vehicle were members of the El Salvadoran gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS.

Police located and searched both vehicles Tuesday, Copeland said. One bullet hole was found in the vehicle Tejada-Pacheco had been riding in, he said. No other evidence was found.

One of the occupants of the Explorer was located, interviewed and released Tuesday, Copeland said. Police have the names of two other people they believe were in the vehicle at the time of the incident, but by Tuesday evening those people had not been located.

Police searched a residence in the 1600 block of Osage Street on Tuesday after receiving information that the two people they were looking for had been dropped off there, but no one was present in the residence and no evidence was found, Copeland said.

Copeland noted that police have investigated several previous incidents of violence involving the Mexican and El Salvadoran gangs, including the March 30, 2003, shooting death of Florencia 13 member Juan Ramirez, 22; the May 15, 2003, shooting death of Mara Salvatrucha member Jose Salinas, 21; and the July 4, 2004, shooting death of Florencia 13 member Adelio Romero, 18.

Asked if police are concerned that Tejada-Pacheco’s death may lead to retaliatory violence, Copeland said, “We have to be concerned about that, just going by recent history alone.”