Albuquerque police arrest murder suspect for shoplifting at Walmart

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – An Albuquerque man is behind bars Tuesday after officers arrested him for shoplifting. They later found out he was wanted for murder. He was once referred to as one of the most dangerous criminals in Albuquerque.

He was one of the first listed on the Albuquerque Police Department’s original ‘Metro 15’ list back in 2019. With an extensive criminal background, 26-year-old Jamil Lewis is behind bars once again.

In July 2018, Lewis was arrested after he was suspected of being a part of a carjacking in a downtown neighborhood, where the victim was shot at nearly twenty times.

But Lewis was never convicted in that carjacking after the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office said there was sworn testimony he was not at the scene of the crime. The charges in that case were dismissed.

Then on Monday, police responded to a shoplifting call at the Walmart at Wyoming and Menaul. After chasing the suspect through the aisles, they arrested him and discovered it was Lewis. It turned out, there was a warrant out for his arrest in connection to the June murder of Gerald Ibuado over a debt.

Since the 2018 carjacking case was dropped, Lewis has had one conviction for felony drug possession but did not serve significant jail time.

The district attorney’s office said they will be pushing to keep Lewis locked up until trial in the murder case.

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