A suspected white supremacist is facing charges after allegedly ditching a bullet-riddled car containing three dead men in the parking lot of an Albuquerque hospital this week.
Richard Kuykendall, a 41-year-old with an “apparent association” with the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, was charged Friday with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition for his role in the Wednesday triple homicide, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for New Mexico.
Prosecutors allege that after a deadly shootout in a nearby alley, Kuykendall drove to Presbyterian Kaseman Hospital with the victims, removed his shirt and told a security officer “that there were three dead guys in the Chevy” before he walked away.
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The criminal complaint—first obtained by Seamus Hughes, a researcher at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism and a Daily Beast contributor—notes that authorities only believe Kuykendall “may be responsible for the death of one of the three men.”
The victims, who have not yet been identified, were also members of the gang. Kuykendall is being held on bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque.
Prosecutors described the Aryan Brotherhood as a “nationwide prison gang that strives to control drug distribution and other illegal activity within state and federal prisons.” Formed by white inmates, it has about 20,000 members both in and out of prison and is known for using Nazi symbols, including swastikas and SS lightning bolts, the complaint states.
While authorities have not provided a motive for Wednesday’s slaying, the complaint notes that the gang is known for murdering or threatening members who do not remain loyal or pose a threat to the enterprise.
“The [Aryan Brotherhood] uses murder and the threat of murder to maintain a position of power within the prison and jail system,” the complaint states. “Inmates and others who do not follow the orders of the [Aryan Brotherhood] are subject to being murdered, as is anyone who uses violence against an [Aryan Brotherhood] member.”
Prosecutors state Kuykendall was walking in an alley behind a local pizza shop on Wednesday when a dark-colored Chevy Malibu pulled up behind him. When Kuykendall tried to get in the car, shots were immediately fired at him.
Kuykendall “ducked and maintained a low center of gravity as he ran around the front” of the car while shots were still being fired. He was able to jump in the car.
A few seconds later, Kuykendall exited the car and walked toward a dumpster, the complaint states. “Kuykendall remained next to the dumpster for nine seconds and then went back to the car.” The Albuquerque Police Department later found a 9mm pistol in the dumpster.
Prosecutors state that after possibly moving a person inside the car, Kuykendall got into the driver’s seat—on top of the presumably dead driver—and drove to the nearby hospital.
Once there, he took off his shirt, revealing several tattoos associated with the neo-Nazi group, including “a large letter B on his left shoulder and an iron cross on his left breast,” the complaint states.
When authorities arrived, they found a car “riddled with bullet holes” with a loaded pistol under the driver’s seat, an empty pistol on the back seat and spent bullet casings throughout the car, the complaint says.
It’s far from Kuykendall’s first run-in with the law. “Kuykendall has an impressive criminal history, with at least 35 arrests in New Mexico and Massachusetts,” the complaint states. His crimes range from forgery and identity theft to larceny and conspiracy, to an assault of a family member in 2018.
