Santa Fe, NM (KKOB) – A life sentence handed down to a man who shot and killed an elderly man in a Santa Fe parking lot in 2024 during a crime spree. 40-year old Zachary Babitz was sentenced to life plus 26 years for killing 83-year old Gordon Wilson during a carjacking in the parking lot of a Best Buy. Babitz pled guilty to 13 federal counts in connection with the 2024 crime spree that involved several robberies, carjackings, as well as the shooting death of Wilson.
Federal prosecutors said they were going to seek the death penalty for Babitz, who was released from a New Mexico prison a few months before Wilson’s death. He agreed to the life sentence in April in order to avoid the death penalty.
Following the shooting a manhunt for Babitz was launched that took officers to Albuquerque and ended in Las Cruces, where he was arrested days later.
