Inset: Elaina Gomez-Villeda (Albuquerque police). Background: Gomez-Villeda’s 10-year-old son holds a gun before he allegedly shot 16-year-old Keinerlein Rangel during a dispute over loud music (KRQE).
Police say a New Mexico mother told her 10-year-old son to get a gun during an argument with a neighbor over loud music. The confrontation became physical, and the boy allegedly fired the weapon, killing a 16-year-old girl.
Elaina Gomez-Villeda faces charges of murder, conspiracy to commit a felony, child abuse, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, negligently making a firearm accessible to a minor, battery and receiving stolen property, according to jail records.
Gomez-Villeda appeared in court Friday for a detention hearing. Prosecutors presented surveillance footage they said captured the shooting death of 16-year-old Keinerlein Rangel in Albuquerque.
Gomez-Villeda was wearing a Day of the Dead costume when she and her son returned home at about 4 p.m. on Oct. 31 after attending a Halloween event. As they entered their apartment in the 200 block of Tennessee Street, she asked neighbors to lower their music “just a little bit.”
The request escalated into a physical confrontation. According to the surveillance video, Keinerlein and her mother began scuffling with Gomez-Villeda and the boy. The child then ran into the apartment after his mother allegedly told him to “get the gun,” according to a courtroom report by local Fox affiliate KRQE. He returned holding the weapon and raised it, the footage showed.
“The defendant is heard saying … ‘he’s going to shoot you, look he’s going to shoot someone,’” Albuquerque police Detective Chase Jewell testified.
Jewell told the court that the boy fired once without hitting anyone. A second shot struck Keinerlein and killed her.
After the shooting, Gomez-Villeda and her son allegedly went back inside the apartment.
When police arrived, officers heard a gunshot coming from inside the unit. Gomez-Villeda allegedly emerged carrying a firearm. One officer fired at her but missed, after which she dropped the gun and was taken into custody.
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During an interview with police, Gomez-Villeda allegedly claimed that she was the person who fired the shot inside the apartment. She said Keinerlein’s father had been trying to force his way into the home before she called 911.
“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,” she said, according to ABQRaw.com.
She also reportedly sent her husband a text message saying, “I’m probably going to jail right now.”
At Friday’s hearing, prosecutors pointed out that Gomez-Villeda did not instruct the boy to call 911 or put down the weapon. Detective Jewell also testified that the child appeared to have received some prior training with the gun.
Gomez-Villeda’s attorney, Roberta Yurcic, disputed the prosecution’s interpretation of the footage.
“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 told the court.
Judge Joseph Montaño ordered Gomez-Villeda held without bond.
“The fact that a 10-year-old is able to manipulate a revolver in the fashion in the video,” he said. “How can the court fashion conditions of release for circumstances like this?”
Authorities have not yet decided whether to charge the 10-year-old boy.
The post Mom in Day of the Dead costume told 10-year-old son to grab gun during fight with neighbor over loud music — then boy opened fire, cops say first appeared on Law & Crime.
