A fight between roommates led to the shooting death of the son of a former state senator Saturday evening in Corrales.
Joel Ray, 60, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Spencer Komadina, 46. Both men lived in Corrales.
Joel Ray
Courtesy of Sandoval County Detention Center.
According to the statement of probable cause filed in Sandoval County Magistrate Court, Corrales Police were dispatched to the 300 block of Camino Corrales del Norte just after 6 p.m. Saturday after a friend of Ray’s called, saying Ray had just shot Komadina.
The friend met officers at Corrales Police Department and told them he’d dropped off Ray at his house about 5 p.m. and then gone home. Just before 6 p.m., the man said, Ray called, asking his friend to pick up his dog because he’d killed his roommate and planned to commit suicide.
According to the statement, Ray told his friend that when he got home, something had happened to his dog and people were in his room and eating his food. Ray said Komadina pushed him in the face and he responded by shooting Komadina.
The friend talked Ray out of killing himself, saying he’d call the police.
Corrales Police devised a tactical plan to go into Ray and Komadina’s house. When they arrived around 6:30, an officer called Ray, who said, “I’m having a bad day; I shot my roommate,” according to the statement of probable cause.
The officer instructed Ray to walk down the street to the police. Ray complied and was arrested.
According to the statement, Ray didn’t have any noticeable injuries.
When Corrales Police entered the house, they found Komadina lying on the floor near the front door and a silver handgun and two ammunition magazines on the nearby couch, according to the statement. Three bullet casings were on the floor.
Komadina had no pulse.
Ray was booked into Sandoval County Detention Center. According to his public safety assessment filed in magistrate court, he has prior misdemeanor and felony convictions, but none were related to violence.
The Albuquerque Journal reported that Komadina is the son of former state Sen. Steve Komadina, who informed Facebook friends of his son’s slaying Monday.
“He was a wonderful and loving father, a loyal brother and a person with a life full of friends,” Steve Komadina wrote on Facebook. “What is done is done and now we will move on with many memories of cherished times over the 46 years. His three children were his pride and joy and he would do anything for them. They have all excelled… Spencer ran and loved our farm. Lots of good memories and we will just pretend he is off on a new adventure!”
No attorney was listed for Ray.
