UNM exploring why 14-year-old was on campus, says it plans to upgrade emergency alert system

Why was a 14-year-old on campus?

That’s one question the University of New Mexico is attempting to answer in the wake of last week’s shooting that claimed the life of Michael LaMotte inside a dorm at the school.

During a campus safety conference Friday, officials sidestepped lingering questions on the shooting itself and, instead, talked about ways in which UNM has beefed up security over the past several years.

A week later, the university has still not given the timeline of events leading up to the fatal shooting, citing the pending investigation, but said they immediately responded to the incident.

On July 25, four young men were playing video games in a UNM dorm when John Fuentes, 18, fatally shot LaMotte, 14, and wounded another 18-year-old, according to New Mexico State Police. UNM Police said they received multiple calls but did not realize the gravity of the situation until the wounded man showed up to a hospital with a gunshot wound.

Over an hour later, officers found LaMotte’s body in the dorm.

A law firm representing the LaMotte family said the statement from UNMPD that they responded “immediately” was “inaccurate,” and that by the time relatives drove from Rio Rancho to UNM, the police “still had not arrived at the dorm,” according to a statement from the law firm sent Friday.

The dorm belonged to one of the four young men, who was part of UNM’s Gateway Program, which is designed for first-time freshman students from New Mexico who do not qualify for UNM’s admission requirements but allows students to transfer credits from a “partner campus” to UNM.

“They get library access, they’re allowed to live in the dorms, so they’re not technically enrolled in UNM as a student, but they’re called a Gateway student,” Cinnamon Blair, spokesperson for UNM, said.

According to the UNM website, Gateway students have two on-campus housing options: Casas del Rio, where the shooting occurred, or Lobo Village.

UNM would not answer whether a resident assistant (RA) was in the residence hall at the time of the shooting, citing the continued investigation.

The university said they had specific policies regarding guests and minors being on campus and in dorm rooms.

Guests in dorm rooms must be UNM students and a guest is defined as someone who stays in a dorm room overnight or puts their belongings in a room, according to Teresa Costantinidis, vice president for finance and administration.

Anyone under 18 is only allowed to be on campus if they are involved in a UNM program, like a summer camp. The child is also expected to be under parental guidance at all times.

“We’re still investigating what are the practices across all of our dormitories, and this is an example of where we can continue to tighten up the language in our student handbook,” Costantinidis said.

Safety and security

UNM has spent over $20 million in safety investments over the last five years, according to a handout titled “UNM Safety Investments During Last 5 Years” that was passed out Friday.

Of that funding, a majority — $13 million — was spent on “one-time internal funds for safety and security,” including things like officer training, body camera implementation and increased security cameras for parking lots.

One of the safety measures UNM hopes to implement in the future is an upgraded emergency system. Costantinidis said the university just got the funding approved in the last legislative session.

“There are issues with our existing alert system,” she said. “We’re able to get more reliable messages out, but we have issues with making sure that everybody gets the messages and they’re in the right format.”

Since the shooting, the university has not implemented any changes to their safety policies.

“It takes a little while for policy change because that requires consultation and communication with everybody that might be affected,” Costantinidis said. “I do hope we’ll get through that by the fall semester.”

UNM Police Chief Joseph Silva said his department has increased patrol presence since July 25 and the officers are regularly participating in shooter response trainings. He added that the police department will provide training to RAs to “raise their level of awareness to what key things they should be looking for.”

The department currently has 49 officers.

The shooting occurred during new student orientation as 400 incoming freshmen were sleeping in other dorms and had to shelter in place as officers searched for the shooter. Although some students who were at the freshman orientation had expressed concerns about safety, UNM President Garnett Stokes said that enrollment remains at an all-time high.

“Despite understandable concerns following this tragedy, I do want to mention that to date, there has not been a drop in student enrollment for the upcoming year at UNM,” Stokes said Friday.

“In fact, we continue to anticipate the largest incoming freshman class in our history, with our fall enrollment at an increase of 3%, nearly 600 students,” she added.

The deadline to disenroll at UNM is Friday, Aug. 29.