Teen suspect pleads guilty to 2021 double murder

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A teen suspect accused of killing two people in an apartment complex in northeast Albuquerque pleaded guilty to his charges Thursday.

Josef Toney was 16 years old when prosecutors say he shot and killed 21-year-old Ariel Mallum and 31-year-old Jessica Lucero at the Aztec Village Apartments on Montgomery near Jefferson.

The shooting happened in late January 2021, reportedly in front of Mallum’s four-year-old daughter. As Toney was running away, he also shot and wounded a man three times. That man lived.

Nearly ten months later, authorities arrested Toney in Denver, Colo., where he faces charges of armed robbery and kidnapping.

Toney pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder. He also faced charges of armed robbery, two counts of aggravated battery, child abuse and tampering with evidence.