ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — According to the Albuquerque Journal, Earl “Payaso” Roybal, 59, was shot and killed at the Hose It Car Wash on Sunday, March 26th.
Roybal’s friends stated that he was on a motorcycle ride with his girlfriend when they stopped at the carwash to clean his Harley-Davidson, the article continued.
John Trujillo, who rode with Roybal in the Onagers Motorcycle Club, which supports military veterans, stated that Roybal’s girlfriend told him that Roybal was drying his motorcycle when another customer pulled into the carwash and grew tired of waiting for him to finish, the article noted.
According to the article, it is unclear what happened next, but Roybal’s girlfriend told Trujillo that the two men got involved in an argument, and then the man shot Roybal three times.
“She was there; she witnessed the entire thing,” Trujillo said. “It turned into an argument about a silly stall. There were plenty of witnesses and cameras there, so he (the alleged shooter) decided to submit and waited for the cops.”
The police have not released many details about the incident, including the name of the alleged shooter or whether Roybal was armed, the article reported, but officer Fred Duran, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department did note that someone was “detained,” although no one had yet been arrested or charged.
“We will provide this case as a whole to the District Attorney’s Office for a final review and prosecution as they see fit with the evidence provided to them,” Duran stated. “We have interviewed individuals to include witnesses and a person of interest. Everyone involved has been fully cooperative with police.”
Roybal was taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital, the article continued, where he died.
Roybal had three children and several grandchildren, fought in the Vietnam War and worked with the Department of Veteran Affairs to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, the article stated.
“Payaso,” his road name, means “clown” in Spanish, the article noted.
“He’s a jokester,” Trujillo said. “If you’re having a bad day, this guy has a way of cheering you up, getting you to smile; he brings the spirits up in everybody.”
On Monday evening, the article continued, hundreds of people parked their motorcycles in front of the carwash for a candlelight vigil that the New Mexico Motorcycle Rights Organization arranged.
The crowd chanted, “Justice for Payaso” before saying the Pledge of Allegiance, the article stated.
Raymond Gallegos, the vice chairman of the The New Mexico Motorcycle Rights Organization, said, “To be shot over a carwash bay, that’s just shocking. As far as for the motorcycle club, we’re in shock about losing a member of our community.”
Read the full article here.
