A statewide manhunt continues for Zachary Ryan Babitz of Glendale, California—a man accused of shooting and killing someone during a robbery in the parking lot of Best Buy on Zafarano Drive earlier this week.
Santa Fe Police issued an arrest warrant yesterday for the 38-year-old on charges of murder, robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm in connection with the Aug. 6 fatal shooting that claimed the life of Gordon Peter Wilson, 83. Babitz stole the victim’s 2020 blue Jeep Grand Cherokee and fled the scene prior to law enforcement’s arrival. Officers have since located and recovered the vehicle in Albuquerque.
Babitz was released from prison in March of this year and has an “extensive criminal history,” according to officers, including possession of a controlled substance; robbery; possession of a deadly weapon; receiving or transferring a stolen motor vehicle; and out-of-state fugitive criminal charges. The criminal complaint indicates an ankle monitor Babitz was required to wear had been cut off, and he may also be connected to a July 31 bank robbery in Albuquerque.
SFPD Chief Paul Joye tells SFR law enforcement officials are “frustrated” with the amount of repeat offenders they deal with, saying Babitz “should never have been released in the first place.”
“A lot of the crimes my officers are dealing with and a lot of people they’re arresting are repeat offenders, and they’re getting out in a very short amount of time, and they’re not seeing any real consequence for their crime,” Joye says, noting that Mariano Romero, arrested and charged in the July 25 shooting at the Sonic Drive-in on Cerrillos Road, also had a criminal history. “It’s gotten to the point where it feels like an arrest is more of an inconvenience than a true deterrence to committing the crime. That is something that I encourage to be addressed at the state level.”
Last month, lawmakers adjourned Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s public safety special session—the agenda of which included bills to up the penalty for felons in possession of firearms and to require judges to order district attorneys to consider filing for involuntary commitment and which gives judges the ability to detain the defendant for up to seven days to initiate the petition—on its first day, saying legislators needed more time to engage with stakeholders and advocate groups. However, Joye says that’s yet to happen.
“Zero people have reached out to me from the Legislature to talk about this stuff,” he says. “I’m very willing and eager to talk to any representative about what we can do to make our state laws really more helpful to the citizens of our state and make this a safer place for the people who live here.”
Joye says law enforcement officials are “committed” to doing their part to arrest individuals and put cases together, but after that, it’s “out of our hands.”
“I had detectives who were literally sleeping in a parking lot on this case in particular to help get this suspect in custody,” he says regarding the ongoing search for Babitz. “So these are cases that we all take personally. I can easily say we have detectives and sergeants and staff here who are literally losing sleep over this case. I feel like, from the law enforcement side, we are doing what we can for our part of this, but we need the support of, particularly our Legislature, but at the court level as well.”
Joye says officers remain dedicated to apprehending Babitz and understand how “shocking” the crime is to “the conscience of the community.”
“It’s important that the community knows that we take the impact that people are feeling seriously, and when I say the men and women doing the job every day on the streets have a very difficult job, they do their very best to do a good job at it,” the chief says. “Because this shooting was so brazen and so shocking and upsetting to all of us, the outpouring of support from our fellow agencies and the number of law enforcement that are doing everything they can—literally working around the clock to try to get this guy identified and brought in—it’s a big deal.”
Babitz lives in Edgewood, but has ties to Arizona, Nevada and California as well. He is described as 5-foot-8, 200 pounds and bald, with hazel eyes and tattoos on his neck and body. He was last seen wearing black jeans and a bright blue shirt with a button-up shirt underneath, and a white baseball cap. SFPD considers the individual to be armed and extremely dangerous. If seen, contact 911. Anyone with information related to the shooting is encouraged to contact case agent Detective Rebecca Hilderbrandt at (505) 955-5265 or rrhilderbrandt@santafenm.gov immediately.