Police ID murder victim, 2 more suspects

A murder victim found shot in the chest in a Red Wing alley died after an apparent narcotics robbery went bad, police said Monday.

Red Wing police Chief Tim Sletten said the victim, Joel Rafael Diaz Albelo, was part of a group that had planned to buy drugs from another group. Those people allegedly included two more males arrested in connection with the murder: William Jamar Lawton, 19, 289 Frenn Ave., and a 16-year-old from Zumbrota.

They were arrested Sunday afternoon on second-degree intentional homicide charges. The third suspect, 19-year-old Marvin Todd Griffith, Red Wing, was arrested earlier that day.

Sletten would not say Monday who the shooter was.

He said the three suspects had planned to rob Albelo — who drove the vehicle he was later found shot in — but that somone in the group fired a single shot at him during the drug deal. Police believe the shot was fired from outside the vehicle.

The three suspects fled the scene after the shooting, Sletten said. Albelo, 27, was able to drive a short distance after the shooting, with a passenger manning the steering wheel, Sletten said.

The shooting took place in the 300 block of an alley between Bush and Plum streets — about two blocks from the Goodhue County Law Enforcement Center, where both county authorities and police are housed. The vehicle was found in the 600 block of North Park Street.

"It is disturbing that something like this happened," Sletten said of the proximity to local authorities' headquarters. "This is not a usual event that happens in Red Wing."

Griffith was taken into custody Sunday afternoon in the 1400 block of West Fourth Street on suspicion of second-degree intentional homicide. Sletten said Monday he did not know where the other two suspects were apprehended.

A search warrant was executed for a residence in the 300 block of West Seventh Street, he said, but added that no one was arrested in the search. Police have executed search warrants at that residence in the past, Sletten said.

Nobody else inside the vehicle was injured, authorities said.

Authorities were called to the scene at 12:30 a.m. Sunday. Sletten said he did not know when formal charges would be filed, but said police have been in contact with county prosecutors since Sunday.

According to court documents, Griffith has previous convictions for disorderly conduct and underage drinking.

Tags: news, red, wing, murder, joel, rafael, diaz, albelo