APS to pay $900K to settle lawsuit in Washington Middle School shooting

Albuquerque Public Schools has agreed to pay $900,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of a 13-year-old student fatally shot by a classmate at Washington Middle School in 2021, attorneys in the case said Monday.

Juan Saucedo Jr. was 13 when he brought his father’s gun to the school and shot Bennie Hargrove multiple times as dozens of horrified students looked on.

In addition to the cash settlement, APS has agreed to honor Bennie Hargrove by including his story in an anti-bullying program under development by the district, attorneys said.

APS “has agreed to meet with us after this lawsuit and begin working on it,” Shane Maier, an attorney for the family, said of the anti-bullying program.

Hargrove was defending a friend from being bullied at the time he was shot.

APS also has agreed to work with the city to make improvements to a park adjacent to Washington Middle School now named in Hargrove’s memory.

Luis Robles, an attorney representing APS, confirmed Monday that APS agreed to pay the family $900,000 to settle the suit. APS also has agreed to work with Hargrove’s family to “honor Bennie Hargrove through the anti-bullying campaign” planned by the district, Robles said.

“APS has an anti-bullying program,” he said. “The plan is to incorporate Bennie Hargrove’s story into the program.”

The lawsuit filed in December 2021 in 2nd Judicial District Court also names as defendants the APS board, Superintendent Scott Elder, Washington Middle School and the school’s principal, Modesta Herrera-Hernandez, and unidentified faculty and staff at the school.

In August, attorneys filed an amended complaint alleging Herrera-Hernandez and a school resource officer at Washington had prior knowledge that Saucedo had a gun on campus but took no action, a claim APS continues to deny.

The suit was filed by Collette Wise, Hargrove’s mother, and Kelly Stout-Sanchez, the personal representative of Hargrove’s estate.

Saucedo pleaded no contest in March to second-degree murder in Hargrove’s death and will remain in custody until age 21. He entered the plea in a March 2 hearing in 2nd Judicial District Children’s Court.

Hargrove’s death spurred state legislation, passed earlier this year, making it a crime for gun owners to negligently store their firearms in a way in which minors can access them. If a minor accesses a gun under those circumstances and gravely injures or kills someone, the gun owner can face a felony charge under the law.

Meier said the lawsuit remains pending against Saucedo’s parents, Juan Saucedo Sr. and Luz Saucedo. The suit alleges the parents could have prevented the shooting by properly storing the firearm their son used to kill Hargrove.