A 26-year-old man has been arrested in Albuquerque after his eight-year-old cousin allegedly found his unsecured handgun on a kitchen counter and accidentally shot herself in both legs.
Isaiah Richard Chavez is facing one count of child abuse and one count of negligently making a firearm accessible to a minor, under New Mexico’s Bennie Hargrove Gun Safety Act.
Albuquerque Police Department officers were called to a property in the 6500 block of Basket Weaver Avenue NW at about 6am on April 27 after reports that a child had suffered a gunshot wound.
Police said Chavez did not live at the address but had stayed overnight on a sofa while visiting relatives. Investigators allege that he emptied his pockets on to the kitchen counter before going to sleep, leaving the handgun among his belongings.
In an interview with detectives, Chavez said he normally kept the weapon in his truck when staying at the property.
“I usually never stay here. I usually leave it in my truck if I do stay here,” he told officers.
Chavez said he was asleep when he heard what he described as a loud bang. He then ran to his mother’s room and said: “Mom, I think the baby just f***ing shot herself.”
A relative who is a registered nurse drove the girl to the University of New Mexico Hospital. Her injuries were assessed as non-life-threatening.
Chavez’s family has described the shooting as an accident and said he should not have been charged.
“It was a freak accident,” one relative told KOAT. “It was just all, like, a big storm of everything that happened. It wasn’t like, you know, it wasn’t his fault.”
Charges under Bennie’s Law
The charges were brought under legislation named after Bennie Hargrove, a 13-year-old Albuquerque pupil who was shot and killed by a classmate at Washington Middle School in 2021.
Witnesses said Bennie had been trying to intervene in a bullying incident when he was shot several times. The Bennie Hargrove Gun Safety Act was subsequently introduced to hold adults accountable when a child gains access to an unsecured firearm.
Local reports said Chavez was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Centre and pleaded not guilty. His next hearing is scheduled for July 2027.
