Make New York Post a Preferred Source A New Mexico mom whose 10-year-old son shot and killed their 16-year-old neighbor allegedly warned the family that the boy was “going to shoot you” over the noise dispute.
Elaina Gomez-Villeda, 40, appeared in Bernalillo County court Friday after she was charged over the chaotic melee that turned deadly outside her Albuquerque apartment around 4 p.m. on Halloween, KRQE reported.
Albuquerque Police Detective Chase Jewell testified that Gomez-Villeda “is heard saying ‘get the gun’” on security footage of the shooting, and that she warned her neighbors her son was “going to shoot you, look he’s going to shoot someone” before the killing.
Gomez-Villeda faces charges of 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.
Gomez-Villeda’s defense attorney, Roberta Yurcic, said the boy grabbed the gun after his mother was attacked with a drill and injured — and argued that her client never told him to open fire.
“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’s arguments and ordered Gomez-Villeda to remain jailed, saying she posed a danger to the community — and expressing alarm that her 10-year-old appeared comfortable handling a gun, the outlet reported.
“The fact that a 10-year-old is able to manipulate a revolver in the fashion in the video,” Montaño said. “How can the court fashion conditions of release for circumstances like this?”
The confrontation began as Gomez-Villeda and her son were returning home from a Halloween event and loud music from a next-door apartment sparked an argument.
Security video obtained by the outlet shows Gomez-Villeda — appearing to be wearing a Day of the Dead costume — asking the neighbors to turn it down before a brawl erupted outside the apartments.
Gomez-Villeda and her neighbor started throwing punches, while the latter’s 16-year-old daughter, Keinerlein Rangel, traded blows with Gomez-Villeda’s 10-year-old son.
The teen then turned on Gomez-Villeda as the boy ran inside the apartment.
Moments later, the 10-year-old came back out holding a handgun and fired one shot that missed, followed by a second that fatally struck Rangel.
Gomez-Villeda and her son rushed back into their apartment, where there was also a 6-year-old inside, barricaded the door and called 911.
While Gomez-Villeda was still on the phone with 911, Rangel’s father tried to bust down her door and smashed a window, according to police.
Gomez-Villeda then grabbed a gun and fired at the enraged father, she later admitted to police.
“I thought we were gonna die,” she said, according to the outlet. “These people, they do it a lot, and I didn’t think I was gonna be the target, but it is what it is.”
Her 10-year-old son, who has not been identified because of his age, has not been charged.
The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office said his age means it is still reviewing what charges could apply, if any.
