Man sentenced to 25 years in prison for firing automatic weapon, murdering one person in Las Cruces

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KVIA) -- 27-year-old Adam Alexander Torres will spend the next 24 and a half years in prison for the murder of Rogelio Baeza outside a Las Cruces bar in 2019.

Court officials say on June 28, 2019, Torres drove up to the Halo Lounge on the 2400 block of South Locust Street and fired 31 rounds with an automatic weapon into Baeza's car. Investigators identified Torres through surveillance cameras near the bar.

Investigators later found what they describe as threatening texts between the men. A witness later guided police to the gun, which had been dumped in a desert area 25 miles away from the bar.

Torres was convicted of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, and tampering with evidence in March of 2023.