DAD TRIED TO HALT GUNFIRE

Hector Cisneros tried to stop gunfire from breaking out Monday night
between his neighbors and two alleged drug dealers, police said.

That - and simply having the living-room light on as the family watched
television - may have led suspects Jesus Barthelemy and Manuel Labore
Espinoza to mistakenly target the Cisneros' Southwest Albuquerque home and
send a string of 9mm gunfire into the living room, police said.

The construction worker's toddler daughter was killed in front of his eyes.
His wife and 13-year-old daughter were wounded.

"It's a heartbreaking story," Albuquerque Police Department violent crimes
Sgt. Carlos Argueta said Wednesday evening.

His comments in an interview came after investigators obtained arrest
warrants charging repeat felon Barthelemy, 26, and Espinoza, 29, with
first-degree murder, conspiracy and a list of related crimes for their
alleged roles in the Monday night shooting on 11th SW.

No arrests had been reported as of late Wednesday evening, but police vowed
to do all they could to track down the men. Argueta said investigators
planned to work into the night.

"We will catch these people ... with the help of the community," police
Capt. Rob DeBuck told a news conference Wednesday morning.

Mayor Jim Baca's office has set up a bank account to help the Cisneros family.

Two-year-old Joslin Cisneros was shot in the head and killed Monday night
as she watched TV with other family members in the living room.

Her mother, Margarita Bustos, was struck in the chest with either a bullet
or a bullet fragment. An older daughter, Jazmine Cisneros, 13, was shot in
the left arm.

An arrest-warrant affidavit filed in the case said that, when police
arrived at the scene, Bustos was cradling Joslin's head and Jazmine had her
wounded arm draped over the toddler.

Bustos and Jazmine have since undergone surgery, and both remained in
satisfactory condition Wednesday at the University of New Mexico Hospital,
a spokesman said.

"These were unintended victims," police chief Jerry Galvin has said. "These
were innocent victims."

The Cisneros family lives in a duplex, and the affidavit and police said a
pair of suspected drug-dealing gang members live in the other section of
the faded white building with blue trim. Argueta and the affidavit said the
shooting appears to have stemmed from a dispute that was brewing between
Cisneros' neighbors and Barthelemy and Espinoza.

According to the affidavit, a woman told police she had been buying drugs
from the neighbors, Mario "Trancas" Hernandez and Patrick "Droopy" Davila.
But on Saturday she instead went to two other men and bought crack cocaine
from them. Argueta said investigators believe the two new sellers were
Barthelemy and Espinoza.

The affidavit said the woman told police that on Sunday, "both Patrick and
Mario confronted her about buying crack from the two (other men) and
pistol-whipped her on the side of the head." She later pointed out her
attackers to Barthelemy and Espinoza.

On Monday afternoon, police said, Hernandez saw the woman getting into a
gray Lincoln with two men believed to be Barthelemy and Espinoza, and they
"mad dogged" each other - a slang term for angry looks.

Hector Cisneros later told police that, a few hours before the shooting
happened, he was outside his home when he saw a gray Lincoln pull up.
Davila allegedly came out of his part of the duplex with a gun.

Cisneros reportedly told Davila to "put the gun away - there's kids out
here," Argueta said. The Lincoln drove off, but Argueta said the men inside
may have believed Cisneros was part of the rival group.

Argueta said that when police came upon the scene after the shooting, the
living-room light inside the Cisneros home was on - but the lights inside
the duplex where Hernandez and Davila lived were off.

"We're still trying to determine why these people went to the window they
did," Argueta said. But he added it could be that "the target was the house
- - and the light that was on."

Police Tuesday searched locations on Lucca SW and Girard SE. Argueta said
investigators believe Barthelemy and Espinoza had been at the Girard
location just moments before police got there.

"We've identified them. Now we need to find them," police spokeswoman Beth
Baland said at the news conference during which the Albuquerque Police
Department asked for the public's help in locating the men. Police said
both suspects are Cubans.

The affidavit said Hernandez has admitted to pistol-whipping the woman
because she had bought crack from someone other than him or Davila. Argueta
said both neighbor men could later face charges in connection with the case.

Court records show that in April 1999, Barthelemy - who already had at
least one other drug-dealing felony on his record and had allegedly escaped
from jail two years prior - entered into a plea deal involving several
other felony cases.

Those cases involved cocaine and stolen vehicles, and Barthelemy was found
to be a "habitual offender," according to the records.

He was sentenced to 16 months in prison and ordered to serve that time
concurrent to the prison time to which he'd already been sentenced in a
prior case. He was paroled in March 2000.

Revolving-door jails

DeBuck at Wednesday's news conference railed on what he perceives to be
revolving-door justice and said more resources need to be aimed toward the
criminal justice system.

Before officers are even done with their paperwork, "these people are back
on the streets," DeBuck said. "The whole system needs to be beefed up."

Stacks of Metropolitan Court files outline a long list of drug-related
arrests in which Barthelemy was the suspect. Court records show Barthelemy,
who uses an alias of Fabian Rui, claimed to have been a longtime mechanic
for the Cuban government before coming to Albuquerque.

In September 1996, Barthelemy was allegedly caught behind the wheel of a
stolen Toyota 4Runner. Two months later, court records show, he was back on
the street and allegedly sold a $20 rock of suspected crack cocaine to an
undercover APD narcotics officer.

One criminal complaint said that, the following May, Barthelemy was again
caught in another stolen vehicle - this time a maroon Honda Civic.

In September 1997, Barthelemy was suspected of dealing drugs and was chased
by police into an apartment where a loaded .357-caliber Magnum handgun and
a .380-caliber handgun were located. In November 1997, investigators say,
"Fabian Rui" and another prisoner managed to slip out of the Bernalillo
County Detention Center in Downtown Albuquerque. Barthelemy was later
recaptured.

Long history

Barthelemy in January 1998 also was alleged to have attacked a jail
corrections officer by kicking him and striking him with a food tray.

State District Court records show that in February 1998 Barthelemy was
sentenced to four years in prison for one of the drug-dealing offenses of
which he had been accused. In April 1999 he agreed to enter no-contest
pleas to a drug-dealing conspiracy charge and two counts of receiving or
transferring a stolen vehicle.

The battery case involving the jail guard was tossed out as part of that
plea deal, and then-Judge Diane Dal Santo sentenced Barthelemy to 16 months
in prison - to be served concurrently with the prison time to which he
already had been sentenced.

Metro Court records show Espinoza was arrested in December 1995 on
suspicion of drug trafficking and conspiracy, but details of the outcome of
that case weren't immediately available.

DeBuck underscored that the killing of the child has been emotionally hard
on the force.

"We didn't come here from another planet," DeBuck said of police officers.
"When a child gets killed, we can all relate to that."

People with information about the suspects' whereabouts are asked to call
Crime Stoppers at 843-STOP; callers can remain anonymous and a reward is
available.