‘Had to Do What He Had to Do’: New Mexico Man Told Cops Cockroach Told Him He ‘Needed to Kill’ Two Men

A New Mexico man who was jailed for the shooting deaths of two men confessed to their murders but told authorities that a cockroach ordered him to do it.

Alexis Hernandez, 25, was arrested and charged with two open counts of murder in connection with a fatal shooting at a home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were called to the home on Nov. 7, where they found two adult men dead at the scene.

New Mexico Man Tells Cops He Fatally Shot Two Men Because a Cockroach Told Him to Do It
Alexis Hernandez (Photo: Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office)

Three more adults and two young children were also inside the home when deputies arrived.

Authorities say the adults were detained and questioned, while the children were safely removed from the scene.

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According to an arrest affidavit cited by NBC News, when deputies arrived, they were met at the front door by Hernandez, who “had a firearm on his waistband and a Marine Corps Sabre on his hip.”

Hernandez was one of the adults detained and questioned. He told deputies that he was a Marine and “had to do what he had to do,” the affidavit states.

He then allegedly stated there were two dead bodies inside the residence.

Authorities wrote that they discovered one dead man “with possible gunshot wounds” at the front of the house and a second man with apparent stab wounds in an attached apartment.

In an interview, Hernandez told deputies he knew both men, one of whom was the owner of the home.

He told them he believed the property owner was a friend who had been stalking him for the days leading up to the incident, and claimed the man had placed cameras in the lights.

He also said that he started “hearing creepy voices coming from the vents” and “had been getting signs” that he had to end the property owner before he ended him.

Hernandez said that one of those signs came in the form of “an encrypted message in a cockroach” that he “needed to kill,” authorities say. He added that the property owner did not like cockroaches.

Authorities learned that Hernandez had previously purchased a Glock handgun that he said was for his “protection.”

He told deputies that right before the shooting, he became “afraid for his life” when two men allegedly took him to the back room of the home.

That’s when he said he shot the property owner in the head and the other man in the kitchen, the affidavit states.

Hernandez said that afterward, he went to his car to reload his gun before going back to shoot each victim one more time.

Hernandez told deputies that he didn’t know what to do after the attack, so he “stayed on scene and walked around.”

He said he knew that the two children inside the house saw him shoot both men, but “he was not going to take the kids or do anything to them,” the affidavit says.

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