A New Mexico mother whose 10-year-old son fatally shot their 16-year-old neighbor allegedly warned the family during a noise dispute that the boy was “going to shoot you.”
Elaina Gomez-Villeda, 40, appeared in Bernalillo County court Friday after being charged in connection with the chaotic confrontation that turned deadly outside her Albuquerque apartment at about 4 p.m. on Halloween, KRQE reported.
Albuquerque Police Detective Chase Jewell testified that security footage captured Gomez-Villeda saying, “Get the gun.” He also said she warned her neighbors that her son was “going to shoot you” and that “he’s going to shoot someone” before the fatal gunfire.
Gomez-Villeda faces charges including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, child abuse, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, negligently making a firearm accessible to a minor, misdemeanor battery and receiving stolen property.
Her defense attorney, Roberta Yurcic, argued that the boy seized the firearm after Gomez-Villeda was attacked with a drill and injured. Yurcic maintained that her client never instructed her son to shoot.
“Despite the state really wanting those words to have been spoken, they’re not,” Yurcic said. “By the detective’s review, she never tells him to shoot.”
Judge Joseph Montaño rejected the defense’s arguments and ordered Gomez-Villeda to remain behind bars, saying she posed a danger to the community. The judge also expressed concern that the 10-year-old appeared comfortable handling a firearm, according to the outlet.
“The fact that a 10-year-old is able to manipulate a revolver in the fashion in the video,” Montaño said. “How can the court fashion conditions of release for circumstances like this?”
The dispute began when Gomez-Villeda and her son returned home from a Halloween event and became involved in an argument over loud music coming from a neighboring apartment.
Security footage obtained by the outlet shows Gomez-Villeda, who appeared to be wearing a Day of the Dead costume, asking the neighbors to lower the volume before the confrontation escalated into a physical fight outside the apartment complex.
Gomez-Villeda and her neighbor exchanged punches, while the neighbor’s 16-year-old daughter, Keinerlein Rangel, fought with Gomez-Villeda’s 10-year-old son.
The teenager then turned her attention to Gomez-Villeda as the boy ran back inside the apartment.
Moments later, the 10-year-old emerged with a handgun. He fired once and missed before firing a second shot that struck Rangel, killing her.
Gomez-Villeda and her son ran back into their apartment, where a 6-year-old child was also present. They barricaded the door and called 911.
While Gomez-Villeda remained on the phone with emergency dispatchers, Rangel’s father allegedly tried to force his way through the door and smashed a window, police said.
Gomez-Villeda later told police that she grabbed a gun and fired at the enraged father.
“I thought we were gonna die,” she said, according to the outlet. “These people, they do it a lot, and I didn’t think I was gonna be the target, but it is what it is.”
Gomez-Villeda’s 10-year-old son has not been identified or charged because of his age.
The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office said prosecutors are still reviewing whether any charges may apply to the child.
The shooting remains under investigation.
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