Teen charged with involuntary manslaughter in March shooting

A 15-year-old boy has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with last weekend’s shooting death of another teen in Roosevelt County.

Court records show the unnamed suspect said he was cleaning his gun the night of March 10 when it fired inside a residence on South Roosevelt Road 3.

The victim’s grandmother said she heard the gunshot and found her grandson, Nehemiah Montano, in the den of the home “holding his stomach,” records show.

Nehemiah was transported to Roosevelt General Hospital by his grandfather, where the victim told police who shot him.

“Efforts to save his life were unsuccessful after several hours and he was pronounced deceased” about 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, more than four hours after the shooting, records show.

An obituary published on the Wheeler Mortuary website shows Nehemiah was a sophomore at Portales High School. “He was a people person, and always had lots of friends around him,” the obituary reads.

Family members on Monday created a gofundme account to assist with expenses related to Nehemiah’s death.

A news release issued late Tuesday afternoon from Roosevelt County Sheriff Javier Sanchez reported the suspect is in custody in a juvenile detention center.

In addition to the involuntary manslaughter charge, the suspect is also charged with unlawful possession of a handgun.