Authorities seize five guns in one day from Albuquerque Public Schools students

A shaky cellphone video shows an Albuquerque Public Schools police officer at the front of a classroom with his gun drawn, ordering a student to the ground Wednesday morning. Two people who appear to be staff members run to him and exchange shoves with the teen as they try to corner him. Multiple students run from the room — following a teacher’s orders.

The video showed the first of several incidents across district high schools throughout the day involving a student with a firearm.

In total, APS police recovered five firearms by the time classes dismissed — two on the campus of Albuquerque High School, two at West Mesa High School, and one off campus at Del Norte High School.

Just hours after the firearms were recovered, APS Board President Danielle Gonzales addressed the situation at a board meeting.

“While this is deeply concerning, it also highlights that the systems that our district has put in place are indeed working as intended,” Gonzales said. “The safety of our students is our highest priority.”

Addressing the incidents at her campus, West Mesa Principal Michele Torres wrote in an email to parents: “In both instances, it was a member of our school community who learned that someone had a gun on campus and reported it. We are grateful to those individuals for coming forward.”

She added that the incidents at West Mesa were unrelated.

KOAT-TV obtained a roughly 25-second video of the first incident, which appears to have been recorded by a student.

The Journal sent a series of questions to the district, but APS spokesperson Martin Salazar said, “We’re still looking into the entire incident and can’t comment further at this time.”

Following the confrontation, the student was taken into custody, and the gun was found in his backpack.

“We notified our students and staff of the incident, at which point someone else came forward, and a second gun was recovered. That student was also taken into custody,” Torres said.

“To our knowledge, neither student found in possession of a gun expressed any intentions of harming himself or others, but the presence of any weapon on school grounds is a serious violation of our policies,” Torres said. “As a consequence, the students will face disciplinary measures, up to and including expulsion and prosecution.”

At Albuquerque High School, staff overheard that a student might have a firearm, then searched the student’s backpack and located the weapon, according to a district statement. The statement went on to say Albuquerque High staff then heard of another gun on campus, searched another student’s backpack, and found it.

“Clearly, these incidents are troubling for our school community, and we recognize the impact they can have on students and staff,” Albuquerque High Principal Cesar Hernandez wrote in a letter to parents. “But the willingness of individuals to alert us with potential concerns has been a huge help to our staff and police, allowing us to take proactive steps.”

In addition to the four guns found, APS officers “had been looking for a Del Norte student due to prior incidents and a report that she might be armed,” and spotted her with her boyfriend right off campus. Officers then took the two into custody and found a gun, according to the district’s statement.

The firearms are the first found on APS campuses this year. Last year, APS recovered 15 firearms across its campuses and one charter school, whose day-to-day operations the district does not oversee.