Documents: Young women killed drug dealer over marijuana

Two young women set up a drug deal with the intention to rob the drug dealer, then shot and killed the man over marijuana, court documents obtained by ABC-7 state.

Detectives with the Crimes Against Persons Unit arrested and charged the two teenagers in connection to the murder of 25-year-old Carlos Calderon in El Paso’s Lower Valley. Police charged Ashley Galloway, 19, and Jerrica Arredondo, 18, with Capital Murder.

The criminal complaints state, that when speaking with detectives, Arrendondo allegedly said, “It did not go like it was supposed to.”

Police responded to 8507 Alameda on a shots fired call, later upgraded to a shooting, at 1:28 p.m. on March 31, 2018. When officers arrived, they located the victim on the stairs of the apartment complex. The man, suffering from gunshot wounds, was transported to Del Sol Medical Center, where he died.

An investigation revealed Galloway and Arredondo were working together to setup “an illegal narcotics transaction with the victim with the intent to rob him of the drugs,” police said. During the course of the robbery, the victim was shot and died, police added.

Witnesses at the scene gave officers a description of the suspects and pointed the officers in the direction the suspects ran away in. Galloway and Arredondo were found in a nearby trailer park. Court documents state police officers found bullets for a .38 special in Galloway’s front pockets.

Detectives spoke with the victim’s brother, who said he drove the victim to the 8500 block of Alameda so the victim could sell marijuana to someone. The brother told police the victim had been communicating with someone on Facebook messenger prior to the drug deal and shooting.

The brother told police he saw his brother walk into an apartment and “a few minutes later heard gunshots as (the victim) was running away from the apartment” where he was shot.

Court documents state several witnesses, including the victim’s brother, were able to identify Galloway and Arrendondo in photo lineups. One witness told police he witnessed the suspects yelling at each other moments after the shooting. The witness further said he heard Galloway yelling, “I shot him.”

Under interrogation, Galloway allegedly admitted to “planning the aggravated robbery of the victim” and shooting the victim, court documents state. “The defendant further stated there was no intention to buy the drugs from the decedent and it was all a plot to rob him of the drugs,” the document states.

When detectives spoke with Arredondo, she allegedly admitted to being the owner of the Facebook account used to set up the drug deal with the victim via the messenger app. Arrendondo also told police the plan was to rob the victim, court documents state.

Arrendondo and Galloway were booked into the El Paso County Jail. Their arrest photos will be released when it no longer hinders the ongoing investigation, police said.

ABC-7 has learned both teenagers have prior records, one of them for allegedly beating a man with a pole and a knife, and the other for allegedly threatening a man with a gun.

In November 2017, police arrested a then 17-year-old Arredondo for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Arrendondo was allegedly involved in a big fight in South Central El Paso. Court documents state Arrendondo stabbed a man with a knife, struck his head with a pole, and then hit him in the face with a bottle.

In August 2017, Galloway pled guilty to resisting arrest charges. In September 2017, Galloway pled guilty to aggravated assault and robbery charges. She allegedly threatened a man with a handgun and then pistol-whipped another woman with the gun. Court documents state Galloway allegedly robbed the couple.