New Mexico police officers were forced to shoot at two young boys aged just seven and nine years old after they refused to drop a handgun, ignoring the orders of deputies.
Intense video footage, which was released on Friday of the February 16 incident, shows the duo in Minecraft and Star Wars pajamas passing a fully loaded gun back and forth.
In a jaw-dropping clip, being shown to the public to illustrate how drones are utilized in real-life scenarios, the boys tussle with the gun, occasionally waving it recklessly in the direction of the deputies and each other as if it were a plastic toy.
At one point, one of the boys pulled the trigger but by sheer luck, the weapon malfunctioned.
Feeling as though they had no other option, officers at the scene eventually opened fire on the youngsters, using a non-lethal round and firing at the wall of a home rather than at the boys directly.
The footage sees deputies desperately trying to de-escalate a nightmare scenario in which the children could be seen brandishing the weapon at cops.
The jarring aerial drone shot shows the younger boy struggling to hold the weapon steady – neither appears to grasp the life-and-death gravity of what’s happening.
In the bodycam video from the surrounding deputies, also released with the drone imagery, officers can be heard repeatedly pleading with the boys to put the gun down.
New Mexico police officers were forced to confront two young boys aged just seven and nine-years-old after they refused to drop a handgun
Drone footage sees the duo, wearing Minecraft and Star Wars pajamas, pass a fully loaded gun back and forth between them
There is no shouting, no sudden movements – just a tense, drawn-out waiting game with the lives of two children, and several deputies, hanging in the balance.
‘Put it down babe,’ a female officer could be heard pleading with the pair.
‘You’re not in trouble but you have to put it down and come and talk to us,’ another officer follows up.
‘Put the gun down and come and talk to me. You’re not in trouble babe,’ the female officer continues in a soothing manner. ‘Can you please put it down so we can talk?’
‘Put it down on the ground and come and talk to me,’ a male officer adds.
He can then be heard advising a fellow police shooter to aim for the wall and not aim directly at the children, in an effort to scare them and get them to drop the weapon.
‘Try not to hit ‘em,’ the officer says to his colleague.
‘We want to help you. We don’t want to hurt you,’ another officer chimes in.
‘Drop it now or you’re gonna get hit!’
Officers could be seen attempting to diffuse the situation outside the perimeter wall of a home
Deputies attempted to persuade the children to put the gun down from behind the wall
One of the children can be seen giving a thumbs-up to officers, despite ignoring their pleas
As the boys continue to hold the weapon, deputies could be heard discussing whether to rush the boys, fire a non-lethal round, or wait for an opening.
Finally, two rubber bullets are then fired at the children but they still manage to keep on holding the firearm. An officer rushes in to detain both of them while also snatching the weapon out of one of the boy’s hands and putting it out of harm’s way.
‘Had that gun gone off, our deputies could have taken deadly force. That would not have gone well with anybody in the nation,’ said Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen.
‘This will shock the conscience of Bernalillo County,’ he added, during a tense press conference where the footage was released and the full details explained.
Sheriff Allen emphasized that the deputies showed restraint under unimaginable pressure.
Instead of charges or arrests, the Sheriff’s Office turned to their Behavioral Health Unit, initiating a comprehensive intervention effort.
Deputies say the family are well known to law enforcement and have been called to the children’s home at least 50 times prior to the incident.
Sheriff Allen said the family and the boys have a documented history of trauma.
Deputy Deanna Aragon, a spokesperson for the department, said no charges have been filed against the children or their parent, and the boys have not been removed from the home. The loaded gun, however, was seized.
Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) declined to release names or the exact location, citing ongoing efforts to protect the family’s privacy and ‘connect them with the resources and assistance they need.’
The footage from up above was captured by drone in which the weapon can be seen
Police said it appeared the boys had been taught how to use the firearm
Eventually an officer rushed in and managed to snatch the weapon away from the boys
But Sheriff Allen dropped one chilling detail, the pair ‘were taught how to use the firearm’.
‘This was learned behavior,’ he said, suggesting their actions in the video was not an innocent misunderstanding.
‘We know one side is going to say, “Lock them in jail,” Allen said. ‘They’re seven and nine years old. I told you before, numerous times… I understand the frontal lobe.’
Allen, known for his tough stance on youth crime, stopped short of criminalizing the boys but warned that, if they had been older, ‘we’d probably be speaking differently.’
The goal now he said, is rehabilitation, not retribution.
‘Arresting people isn’t the only way out of this crisis of juvenile crime. You have to look at it from a bunch of different avenues and use the resources you have – and then criminal elements can come later.’
The sheriff’s office says it released the video to highlight the use of its drone technology and Behavioral Health Unit to ‘monitor the situation in real-time, providing critical updates and enhancing situational awareness.’
‘This technology allowed deputies to secure the area swiftly and safely, ultimately preventing a potential deadly force encounter with the juveniles,’ BCSO explained.
Michael Lucero, the Behavioral Health Unit’s clinical manager, described how a team of 13 experts including paramedics, clinicians and law enforcement all descended on the home following the incident.
But even with that coordinated response, Lucero said the case ‘pushed the system to its breaking point.’
Medicaid coverage was denied to one of the boys for being too young. The wait time for psychiatric services was six weeks, while the parent, who also has a deep history of trauma, faced difficulty accessing basic treatment.
‘And we are highly educated, highly skilled people,’ Lucero said. ‘It took all of us just to navigate multiple systems. And we are still running into barriers while working this case.’
A drone captured the moment police managed to finally snatch the gun and keep it well away from the children
The children were taken away by police although they were not charged with any crime
Lucero noted how the family needed everything from trauma therapy and parenting skills support, to grocery cards and rides to appointments.
The Benny Hargrove law, passed after a fatal school shooting in New Mexico and allows adults to be held criminally liable for giving children access to firearms.
Sheriff Allen’s comments suggest that whoever armed these boys might yet face consequences.
Allen made clear that while the boys won’t face charges now, the investigation is far from over.
‘Down the road,’ he said, ‘we will look at criminal charges – like the Benny Hargrove law – for those involved.’
