APS usually gives guns found on campuses to APD. But three sat in evidence lockers for nearly a year.

Three guns recovered from Albuquerque Public Schools campuses sat in evidence lockers — instead of being traced and tested — for nearly a year after being seized from students at three different high schools.

Since 2023, APS police have had an agreement to turn over seized firearms to the Albuquerque Police Department to see if they were involved in a crime or had been stolen.

APS Police Chief Steve Gallegos called the three guns that were not turned over “outliers.”

“We typically turn firearms over to APD quickly and will strive to do that with all firearms in the future,” Gallegos said. He said the guns were turned over to APD on Aug. 15.

Gallegos declined to comment further.

In separate September 2024 incidents at Volcano Vista, Valley and ACE Leadership high schools, district police recovered those firearms from a student.

In the Valley High School incident, a 15-year-old student was suspected of spraying graffiti in the gymnasium. A search of his backpack turned up a loaded gun, not spray paint.

At ACE Leadership — a charter school, of which APS does not oversee day-to-day operations — a handgun was found in a 17-year-old’s bag after a struggle with the school’s CEO. The school’s CEO initially searched the bag for vapes the student admitted they were selling on campus.

That same day, a 16-year-old was also found to have a gun in a Louis Vuitton bag, and was “connected to the vapes investigated,” according to the police report.

And at Volcano Vista, a loaded handgun was found in the backpack of a 17-year-old suspected to have been involved in a felony crime two weeks prior. Additionally, a modified shotgun — which had a serial number that had been filed off — was found in the student’s truck.

In all, 15 firearms were found on APS campuses last year, and the Journal reviewed APS police reports from each. Of the 15 guns seized, serial numbers that were provided in the documents were passed along to APD.

APD spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said earlier this month that the department had not received the three firearms from the September 2024 incidents.

The Journal sent APS an inquiry about where the three guns were on Aug. 14. The next day they were turned over to APD.

On Wednesday, Gilbert Gallegos said it was his understanding that APD had received five guns from the district on Aug. 15.

According to APS spokesperson Martin Salazar, only three guns were turned over to APD. He added that the district’s police chief ordered an audit following the Journal’s inquiry.

Less than a week into this school year, on Aug. 20, five firearms were seized from APS students in separate incidents. Salazar said that those guns have already been provided to APD.

Guns on district campuses have been a growing problem since the pandemic. Despite fewer students than ever in their classrooms, the district has seen a sharp spike since 2020 in students found carrying guns.

Since students returned to in-person learning classrooms, APS has recovered 62 guns on or near its campuses. Prior to that, from 2016 to 2020, district police recovered 27 guns, according to previous Journal reporting.