Woman behind bars after allegedly shooting son during domestic dispute

A woman is behind bars after shooting her boyfriend and — in the process — gravely wounding her 7-year-old son when the bullet struck him in the head early Thursday morning in Southwest Albuquerque.

When officers searched the home, according to police, they found hundreds of fentanyl pills, more than $10,000 in cash and multiple guns.

Davona Chavez, 27, is charged with child abuse resulting in great bodily harm and drug trafficking in the case. She was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Friday.

It is unclear if she has an attorney.

Authorities say the 7-year-old is not expected to survive.

Police responded about 3 a.m. to a shooting at a home in the 8900 block of Lower Meadows SW, near Unser and Dennis Chavez, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Chavez’s boyfriend had called 911 and told police she had shot him and her son.

Police said they found the boyfriend shot in the knee outside and Chavez inside trying to stem the bleeding from the bullet hole in her son’s head. Multiple witnesses in the home told police the couple were fighting when the boyfriend approached Chavez aggressively and she shot him.

Two of Chavez’s children had been lying behind the boyfriend, and the bullet went through his leg and hit the 7-year-old in the head, according to the complaint. Chavez told police her boyfriend got physically violent with her and she grabbed two guns from her car, afraid he would use them.

Police said Chavez told them she then gathered her three children and two friends into a bedroom and put both guns underneath her. Chavez told police they called 911 and, when her boyfriend came toward her “with his hands raised,” she shot him.

Chavez told police she then noticed her son had been shot and dropped the gun to try to stop the bleeding, according to the complaint.

Court records show Chavez has had several domestic violence cases and run-ins with the law involving her children and their father, but almost all of the cases were dismissed for one reason or another, and the children ended up back in her care.

In 2018, Chavez made headlines when she allegedly fired a gun from her car after drinking cognac and while with her three children, according to court records. That case was dismissed when both the arresting officer and a witness did not show up to court hearings.

A year later, Chavez was charged with child endangerment after allegedly stabbing the father of her children in front of their daughter, according to court records. That case was dismissed “pending further investigation.”

After her daughter was taken into the custody by the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department, an officer wrote Chavez “was entirely unconcerned ... if not actively relieved that the child was being taken.”