Apr. 12—A former West Mesa High School student who brought a gun to school last year was given two years of probation and freed from jail this week.
Omar Martinez, 19, pleaded guilty last month to two felony gun charges for taking a loaded Glock.40-caliber handgun to school on October 5. These charges are shown in court records.
Monica Armenta, a spokesman for Albuquerque Public Schools, said that Martinez was kicked out of school and couldn’t return until January 2025. She said that a district rule says any student found with a gun in school will be kicked out for a year.
A criminal charge filed in Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court says that APS police officers went into a West Mesa classroom and told Martinez to put his hands up after getting a tip that he had a gun.
The lawsuit said that the police took Martinez into custody after finding a gun in his waistband. It was said that the gun had a magazine with 15 bullets and an extra round in the barrel.
The lawsuit said that officers found 22 more. 40-caliber rounds in the student’s backpack.
“A gun was stolen from the mother of a West Mesa student’s home after a group of West Mesa students visited,” said Nancy Laflin, a spokesman for the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office. This led to the arrest. Laflin said Martinez admitted that he had taken the gun from the woman’s house.
Martinez admitted to carrying a gun outside of school grounds without permission and to carrying a gun while under 19 years old.
A prosecutor asked the judge to give Martinez 18 months in prison, which is the longest sentence allowed by his plea deal.
State District Judge Bruce Fox gave Martinez two years of probation on Wednesday. He was also told he could go free on his own recognizance after six months in jail.
