NM Mom Charged in Fatal Shooting After Telling Neighbors Son Would Shoot

On Halloween afternoon in Albuquerque, a noise dispute outside an apartment building escalated into a fatal shooting after a 10-year-old boy retrieved a handgun and killed his 16-year-old neighbor, according to court testimony.

The confrontation began as 40-year-old Elaina Gomez-Villeda and her son returned home from a Halloween event when loud music sparked an argument, according to reports. Loud music from a neighboring apartment sparked an argument that quickly turned physical outside the complex.

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Security footage captured Gomez-Villeda—appearing to wear a Day of the Dead costume—asking the neighbors to turn down the music before a brawl erupted. Gomez-Villeda and her neighbor started throwing punches, while the neighbor’s 16-year-old daughter, Keinerlein Rangel, traded blows with Gomez-Villeda’s 10-year-old son.

Albuquerque Police Detective Chase Jewell testified in Bernalillo County court on Friday that Gomez-Villeda “is heard saying ‘get the gun’” on security footage of the shooting. Jewell added that she also warned her neighbors the boy was “going to shoot you, look he’s going to shoot someone” before Rangel was killed.

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During the altercation, the teenage girl turned her focus to Gomez-Villeda as the young boy ran inside the apartment. Moments later, the 10-year-old returned holding a handgun and fired two shots. The first missed, but the second fatally struck Rangel.

Following the gunfire, Gomez-Villeda and her son rushed back inside their apartment—where a 6-year-old child was also inside—barricaded the door, and called 911. While Gomez-Villeda remained on the phone with emergency dispatchers, Rangel’s father attempted to break down the door and smashed a window, police said. Gomez-Villeda admitted to firing at the father through the barrier.

“I thought we were gonna die. 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 told police, according to the NY Post.

Gomez-Villeda appeared in Bernalillo County court on Friday facing 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.

Defense attorney Roberta Yurcic argued that her client never instructed the boy to open fire, stating that the child grabbed the weapon only after his mother had been attacked and injured with a drill during the brawl.

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“Despite the state really wanting those words to have been spoken, they’re not, by the detective’s review, she never tells him to shoot,” Yurcic said.

Judge Joseph Montaño rejected the defense arguments and ordered Gomez-Villeda to remain jailed, citing her as a danger to the community. The judge expressed sharp concern over how easily the young child handled the firearm.

“The fact that a 10-year-old is able to manipulate a revolver in the fashion in the video. How can the court fashion conditions of release for circumstances like this?” Montaño said.

The 10-year-old boy, whose identity has been withheld due to his age, has not been charged. The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office said that prosecutors are still reviewing what charges, if any, may apply to the child as the investigation continues.