New Mexico
NM attorney general responds to recent school threats
How are the child offenders behind school shooting threats punished, and held accountable?
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – How are the child offenders behind school threats punished, and held accountable in New Mexico?
KOB 4 took that question to our state’s stop prosecutor.
“Are they OK? Is everything going to be all right?” said New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez.
As a parent, that’s what Torrez says runs through his mind every time he hears about school threats in our state.
Then, the natural questions: What if it was your kid’s school? And what happens next?
“And then that worry and concerns turns to anger pretty quickly when people look at this, and they think, ‘Wow, you know, you can threaten to shoot up a school, and it’s only a misdemeanor,’” said Torrez.
This past week, parents across the state heard about online threats made toward their children’s’ schools. Some schools even canceled classes just to be safe.
Two incidents, one in Las Cruces and one at a high school in Albuquerque, ended with arrests.
A Volcano Vista student will remain in custody. The teen is accused of bringing two guns to school.
Police in Las Cruces arrested three children, the youngest 11 years old, for allegedly threatening local schools online.
Torrez says these incidents prove once again something needs to be done to New Mexico’s Children’s Code.
“We have to be unequivocal when it comes to guns. This will not be tolerated, taking a gun to school, threatening to take a gun to school is unacceptable. Otherwise, we are undermining everything that we are trying to do in terms of building a safer community,” said Torrez.
Torrez recommends mass threats should be classified as a fourth-degree felony instead of misdemeanors.
“The law as it’s written now only makes this kind of conduct a misdemeanor rather than a felony. I don’t think that’s where most of the community is. I think most of the community wants to have a much more severe consequence associated with making this kind of threat,” Torrez said.
He also says it should be mandated that children who commit crimes with guns get booked into youth detention centers. It’s a push he’s been making since he was Bernalillo County District Attorney, and the current DA is on the same page.
DA Sam Bregman has spoken to us several times about his concerns with the Children’s Code.
“Listen, I’m not someone who’s advocating out there throwing the book and throwing the key away on 11 year olds. But I am saying we have to have some more tools in the toolbox,” said Bregman.
Both agree the current code is inconsistent and there needs to be predictable consequences for these kinds of actions. They’ll continue voicing their concerns all the way up until the 60-day legislative session that starts in January.
“This is not about coming up with language, this is about coming up with the courage, the political will to do what’s right, and that’s what we desperately need in Santa Fe,” said Torrez.
Native Vote 2026
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Laguna Pueblo woman is the front runner to be New Mexico’s next governor.
Shortly after polls closed Tuesday night, Deb Haaland was declared the winner over Bernalillo County district attorney Sam Bregman in the state’s semi-open Democratic Party primary. As of 11:00 p.m., Haaland carried support from 72% of the Democratic primary voters to Bregman’s 28%, according to unofficial results from the New Mexico Secretary of State.
“We’re showing everyone that a better future in New Mexico is possible,” she told supporters gathered in Albuquerque’s historic Old Town Plaza. “New Mexicans want a leader who will stand up for working people, and who is ready to take on Donald Trump. I proudly accept your nomination as a Democratic nominee.”
Haaland spoke for 13 minutes, at times through a scratchy throat that required her to pause for water breaks. “Excuse me, I’ve been talking with voters all day,” she said while grabbing a water bottle before hitting her campaign stump notes on affordability, health care and public safety.
She will face Republican Gregg Hull, a former mayor from suburban Rio Rancho that won his party’s three-way primary with 47% of the vote, according to unofficial results from the New Mexico Secretary of State.
Haaland will be the Democratic Party nominee in a state dominated at every level by Democrats, and is expected to be heavily favored in the general election. With that insight she said her campaign message does translate to Republicans and Independent voters.
“We want our kids to thrive. We want our kids to have a quality, public education. We want every New Mexican to have health care. Everybody wants to feel safe in their neighborhoods, and everybody wants to be able to afford to put a hot meal on their table every night and have a roof over their children’s heads,” she said. “Those issues transcend whatever political spectrum we’re trying to slice and dice people into.”
Shortly after the race was called, Haaland campaign staff, major donors, surrogates, and their families walked from a building on the west side of Albuquerque’s Old Town Plaza to the historic plaza core, where the Haaland campaign had set up a stage and reserved the entire plaza for its victory celebration.
“We are now witnessing history in the making,” New Mexico state Rep. Derrick Lente (Sandia Pueblo) said to supporters immediately after Haaland was declared the winner.
Denise Wilie (Dine) also joined the celebration of Haaland’s victory. Wilie said she worked on get-out-the-vote efforts with the Native American Voters Alliance in McKinley County.
“It just is so exhilarating to even think about, a woman and a Pueblo woman,” she said. “Indigenous all the way, is how I feel. I’m like, yes, let’s get more of our voices.”
Haaland was introduced by her two sisters and walked to the stage escorted by a mariachi band.
Speaking to reporters after the event Haaland reflected on voting for a Pueblo woman (herself) for governor.
“I got emotional, quite frankly, when I went to vote for myself because you do that when you’re a candidate,” she said. “We’ve never had a Native American governor in New Mexico. We’re a multicultural state. I think representation matters, especially in a political era such as this one. So, I’m really proud and honored to carry on the legacy of my ancestors, who worked so incredibly hard to make sure that I had a place here today.”
Related
When a famly unexpectedly loses a loved one, or has someone go missing, the details of what comes next can be overwhelming.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – When a famly unexpectedly loses a loved one, or has someone go missing, the details of what comes next can be overwhelming.
But they don’t have to do it alone thanks to an organization helping New Mexico families with some of those burdens.
Watch the video above for more.
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