LOS CHAVEZ—A former mixed martial arts fighter is dead and a woman is in the hospital after a shooting at a home in Los Chavez on N.M. 314 Monday afternoon.
Tyler East
Former MMA fighter
Tyler East, 30, was shot and killed by an unknown man after East shot his own girlfriend, according to a press release issued by the New Mexico State Police Tuesday afternoon.
Valencia County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a domestic violence call at about 5 p.m., Monday, April 5, to a home in the 4200 block of N.M. 47. When deputies arrived, they found a woman with a gunshot wound and East dead on the property.
New Mexico State Police were called in by the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the homicide.
State police agents learned East and his girlfriend were fighting, and during the dispute, East brandished a gun, shot his girlfriend, then drug her out of the mobile home.
While outside, East was shot by a man who was at the home. The man fled the scene before law enforcement arrived. When asked about the person who shot and killed East, NMSP public information officer Lt. Mark Soriano said there was no other information available about him.
East was pronounced dead on scene by the Office of the Medical Investigators, and the woman was taken to an Albuquerque hospital to be treated. She is in stable condition, according to the same press release, and being treated for her injuries.
During his time as a high school athlete, East was a three-time state heavyweight wrestling champion, once at Los Lunas High School and twice at Belen High School.
East began his professional career as an MMA fighter in 2009, fighting under the nickname “The Beast” as a heavyweight. ESPN.com has fight stats for East from April 2009 through October 2016. According to his Facebook page, East was currently employed as a roofer.
East had a criminal history which began in his teens and continued until 2019, and included charges of aggravated battery, kidnapping, fraud and trafficking and possession of controlled substances.
His legal troubles began in 2009, when he was accused of beating a fellow Belen High School student in gym class. East received a three-year deferred sentence and was placed on three years probation after he pleaded no contest to third-degree aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Julia M. Dendinger began working at the VCNB in 2006. She covers Valencia County government, Belen Consolidated Schools and the village of Bosque Farms. She is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists Rio Grande chapter’s board of directors.
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April 18, 2024
