Former Uber Eats driver sentenced to 5 years in 2022 killing

Sep. 17—A former food delivery driver was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday for fatally shooting a homeless man in the parking lot of an Albuquerque restaurant in 2022.

Brandon Chatmon, 22, pleaded guilty in June to charges of voluntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence in the shooting death of 54-year-old Vincent Lopez.

Second Judicial District Judge Courtney Weaks could have sentenced Chatmon up to 12 1/2 years under the terms of the plea agreement.

Chatmon was working as an Uber Eats driver and had just picked up an order from a Wingstop restaurant at Zuni and San Mateo SE at the time of the shooting on Oct. 22, 2022, prosecutors said.

Albuquerque police responded around 10:30 p.m. to a shooting in the shopping center in the 5500 block of Zuni SE. Officers found Lopez dead in the parking lot from multiple gunshot wounds. An autopsy found that Lopez had been struck by five bullets.

A security guard at the restaurant identified Lopez as a homeless man who frequented the area, according to a criminal complaint filed in Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court.

The guard told police that Lopez approached the driver, leading to a brief discussion between the men. The driver fired a single gunshot and the guard saw Lopez fall to the ground, the criminal complaint said.

The driver fired four additional gunshots at Lopez, then drove from the scene, it said. Police identified Chatmon as a suspect based on the license plate number on his car.

Chatmon was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in California in February 2023.