Opinion: Inexplicable not to detain student carrying a gun

The same day an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, two students were found with guns at Albuquerque-area schools.

The boy who allegedly brought a handgun to Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho on May 24 was arrested, booked into the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center and the incident was summarily cloaked in secrecy. The 14-year-old boy who allegedly brought a gun fitted with an extended magazine filled with 20 hollow-point bullets to Volcano Vista High School in Albuquerque grew “more and more irate” and slammed his head against the police vehicle plastic divider. He was deemed “low risk” and released to a guardian.

The way each shocking incident was handled fails miserably to send the important message that taking a gun to school has serious consequence.

The gun at Cleveland High was reportedly uncovered after a student told a school security officer the boy had a gun. The boy was contacted, and authorities located the handgun and confiscated it. We don’t know more about the boy, including his age, because Rio Rancho police are once again hiding behind the state Children’s Code.

We know much more about the Volcano Vista High gun incident because the Albuquerque Police Department has released an incident report rather than try to shield details.

For instance, we know the boy was 14 and had brought a so-called “ghost gun” to Volcano Vista High. We know the gun had no serial numbers and was fitted with a 25-round magazine loaded with 20 hollow-point bullets.

We also have a much better understanding of the circumstances. An employee of Volcano Vista High School told police a student reported the 14-year-old had a gun. Police officers and school officials searched the parking lot, where they found three teens hiding inside a SUV. Police got two girls and a boy out of the vehicle; the boy left his backpack in the SUV, and a school employee saw a gun sticking out of it.

We know the 14-year-old boy tried multiple times to evade an officer and get back in the SUV but was stopped by police. And an APD officer called the juvenile district attorney and was referred to a senior Juvenile Probation-Parole Office representative, who said the boy was a “3, low risk” and “was not to be arrested.” Juvenile probation officers work for the N.M. Children, Youth and Families Department.

APD followed JPPO’s guidance and released the boy to a guardian after detaining him for less than 20 minutes. Police kept the gun; the school suspended the boy.

A CYFD spokesperson says the agency uses a risk assessment tool to decide whether to arrest a youth. But what happens to the boy now? Since he wasn’t detained, is he even in the system? Is anyone following up with his guardian to see if he needs help?

Carrying a gun on school grounds in New Mexico is a fourth-degree felony unless kept inside your private vehicle, and you must be at least 19 to possess a handgun unless attending a gun safety course, hunting or trapping, or on your parent, grandparent or legal guardian’s property.

No matter where you stand on new gun laws, it’s inexplicable that a student would not be detained, if not arrested, under these circumstance at a time when school shootings have become too routine.

— Albuquerque Journal