Teens charged for bringing guns to school appear in court; BernCo DA continues push for child code reform

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Two teens were in court on Tuesday, charged with bringing guns onto an Albuquerque high school campus. This after a flurry of threats at schools around the state and as Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman called for changes to how juveniles are held accountable.

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“It’s one of the most dangerous things we can all imagine is kids with guns,” said District Attorney Sam Bregman and he said it’s happening far too often.

On Tuesday afternoon, juvenile court heard two cases from last week where in separate instances, a 17-year-old and a 16-year-old were caught with firearms at the same school, Ace Leadership High in northwest Albuquerque. “There is no bigger nightmare than the idea of having a gun on a school campus,” said Bregman.

The 17-year-old’s bag had a 9mm firearm with 11 bullets. The 16-year-old had a loaded gun with 12 bullets and in a separate bag another magazine with 31 bullets inside.

“I do have a message for parents. If your kids going to school and you don’t know what’s in their backpack, open up their backpack and find out,” said Bregman.

The DA’s office asked the court to hold both kids until trial. Bregman said these cases are just another example of why the children’s code needs to be updated.

“I think we’re all tired of it. We’re all sick and tired of it and we want to make sure that they understand that so revamping the children’s code, I think, will go a long way for juveniles to learn that they can’t just keep doing things and have no consequences,” said Bregman. “Overall, I don’t think there are enough consequences for our young people when they do stupid things with dangerous weapons like firearms.”

He hopes to stop kids from further destroying their lives. “I’ve been in this office for 20 months and we’ve indicted 21 young people for first-degree murder. By then, it’s too late,” said Bregman.

The DA’s office is in the process of writing up proposals to update the criminal code. “Back when the children’s code was created, there was no idea that someone would be, a bunch of young kids would steal a car with a bag of fentanyl and take semi-automatic weapons and shoot them out the window,” said Bregman.

Bregman said there has been a lot of support. “I’m really excited about the feedback we’ve gotten from our legislators and the governor’s office on wanting to make a difference when it comes to juvenile crime in our community,” said Bregman.

The judge agreed with the district attorney’s office in both cases and both juveniles will be held until trial.

The DA is planning on giving the new children’s code proposals to the legislature in mid-October in hopes of tackling the issue in the January legislative session.

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