LAS CRUCES  -  An Anthony, N.M., teen was found guilty Wednesday in the gang-related shooting death of another teen last summer.

A district court jury deliberated for less than two hours before finding Martin Leonel Nevarez, 18, guilty of both second-degree murder and shooting at a motor vehicle. Nevarez was cleared of a third charge of tampering with evidence.

The July 1, 2007 shooting death of 14-year-old Alberto Soto, a Gadsden High School student, was one of two gang-related murders in the small community of Anthony last summer.

Nevarez, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, was tried as an adult. He can either be sentenced as an adult and serve time in state prison, or as a juvenile, in which case he would be sentenced to a secure facility until his 21st birthday.

Dona Ana County Sheriff's investigators have said that on the day of the shooting, Soto and several individuals were circling an Anthony neighborhood looking to incite a confrontation when they encountered Nevarez.

Nevarez allegedly chased after the vehicle on foot and fired a shot from a sawed-off shotgun, which hit no one, then he returned home.

Investigators said Soto returned to Nevarez's home on foot. After a brief physical altercation,

Soto was shot at close range in the chest and died at the scene.

Soto's death was part of a wave of gang-related violence that plagued Anthony last year.

On May 17, 2007, two week's before Soto's death, Gerardo Baltazar was also shot in the chest in a gang-related incident in Anthony.

Two men -  Isidro Longoria, 21, and Ricardo Fernandez, 22, both of Anthony - have been charged with Baltazar's death.

Longoria remains at large. Fernandez was arrested and is scheduled to stand trial later this month.