Woman accused of giving minors alcohol at grad party where teen killed self

An Albuquerque woman is accused of providing liquor for a high school graduation party where a 19-year-old shot himself in the backyard.

Crystal Aguilar, 40, was arrested Friday and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on a charge of selling or giving alcoholic beverages to minors, a fourth-degree felony, in the May 31 incident. Aguilar was ordered released from jail on her own recognizance.

Charges were not filed against Aguilar until Nov. 17, several months after the incident. The cause for the delay is unclear but court records show that, since September, detectives had interviewed additional witnesses who alleged that she knowingly served liquor to minors.

Aguilar’s attorney, Aaron Mitchell, said the party was intended as a family gathering before the address was posted on social media and “unknown individuals” showed up.

He said there’s “no indication” that Aguilar knew those at the party, aside from her own two sons, were under the age of 21. Mitchell added that there’s an exemption in the law for a parent providing alcohol to their own child in their home.

“More information should come out” as the case moves forward, Mitchell said.

Police responded just after midnight to a reported suicide at a home in the 10300 block of Johncock SW, southwest of Central and 98th, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Officers detained multiple juveniles leaving the party and found a teen dead in the backyard.

Aguilar and her husband, both of whom police said were intoxicated, told them they allowed their son to throw a graduation party with maybe “10-15 people,” the complaint states. Aguilar said she had stepped into the backyard when she heard a gunshot and saw the teen fall to the ground.

None of the adults at the home told police they had seen the shooting, and Aguilar said she had only been going outside to “hype” the kids up and dance, according to the complaint. Officers found a stolen handgun underneath the teen’s body, which lay near empty alcohol bottles and fireworks debris.

The Office of the Medical Investigator responded to the scene and “advised the injuries appeared to be self-inflicted,” the complaint states. A crime scene specialist agreed with that determination.

Partygoers told police the teen had posted an Instagram video during the party of him holding a gun and making comments that he was “sad,” according to the complaint. No such video was found in a search of the teen’s Instagram but past videos were found of him using substances and holding a gun.

The teen’s brother told police that he “was not suicidal nor had depression,” and the autopsy found that he was intoxicated, the complaint states. A young woman who went to the party with the teen told police he “appeared fine” earlier that day.

The woman told police they warned the teen not to bring the gun inside “because the mother at the party said no guns were allowed,” according to the complaint. The woman said “she personally saw” Aguilar taking shots and loading a table with alcohol bottles and “letting people know they were okay to drink whatever was on the table.”

The woman showed police cellphone videos from the party, showing the group of young people, including the teen, drinking Twisted Teas around 10 p.m., the complaint states. In another video, taken less than a half-hour before the shooting, Aguilar danced with the group and drank from a bottle of Pink Whitney.