ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A local mom has been waiting almost three years for movement on her son’s case, and she just learned there are two suspects in custody.

Two men are accused of shooting her 18-year-old son at a Halloween party in 2021. Now, she has a message for all the families still waiting for updates.

It’s hard for Erika Walker to find the words to describe her loss. Lorenzo Romero was her second born of six, and a father figure to his younger siblings.

“He is definitely very, very missed,” said Walker. 

He was 18 and had just graduated from high school months before he was shot and killed at a Halloween party in 2021. 

“Broken. Very broken. It’s been so hard not only, you know, having to deal with that, but then also not knowing the who and the why,” Walker said. 

Earlier this month, she got the answer to one of those questions. 

Ray Torres turned himself in to police. Walker says it was his car and gun used during the shooting. 

Alexavier Gutierrez is also charged with murder. Law enforcement arrested him this week at the Santa Teresa Border Patrol Station.

“I didn’t really know how I would feel, I didn’t really know. I still don’t really know because there’s just so many mixed feelings. Like you are happy, but then just sad,” said Walker. 

She sat with those same mixed feelings during Torres’s recent court appearance, where a judge decided to keep him in jail until trial.

“All of the families lose, it’s really it’s going to be three families now, of people who are kind of essentially losing someone too,” Walker said. 

Walker hates to see the direction Albuquerque has continued in since her son’s death. 

“Something’s broken somewhere, you know, because it seems like APD is like getting people off the streets. But then they’re going to jail and getting out on ankle bracelets. And are they’re going out on ankle bracelets and being good citizens? Most of the time, they’re not,” said Walker. 

In all her pain, she still finds hope, and encourages other families to do the same. 

“Don’t give up hope because, I mean, the truth always comes out. It really does in any type of situation,” said Walker. “Just keep praying, and just don’t give up hope. Pray that your loved one gets justice.”

Gutierrez is in the Doña Ana County Detention Center. He reportedly already told detectives he was the one who fired the gun because he thought he was going to be shot that night, but didn’t know if he hit anyone.

We don’t know yet when he’ll appear in court.