A private investigator was the first to plead guilty to a host of federal charges that include racketeering and bribery in a corruption scandal that roiled New Mexico’s law enforcement community for over a decade, according to court records released Friday.

Javier Cazares raced to his daughter’s school when he heard there was a shooting and spent 35 to 45 agonizing minutes there, waiting for word of her.

Four people died and one person was in critical condition after a hot air balloon they were riding in hit power lines in New Mexico’s largest city, police said Saturday.

Five people have died after a hot air balloon they were riding in crashed on a busy city street in New Mexico.

(AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)ALCALDE, N.M. A man was shot Monday night as protesters in New Mexicos largest city tried to tear down a bronze statue of a Spanish conquistador outside the Albuquerque Museum. The man was taken to a hospital but his condition was not immediately unknown, said Albuquerque police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos. A forklift pried the massive bronze statue of Oate on horseback from a concrete pedestal. Plus, I don't feel like risking my sheriff's deputies or state police to defend it.The Oate statues have been a source of criticism for decades. In 1998, someone sawed the right foot off the statue an incident that weighed in the decision to stash away the statue.