A New Mexico man is facing criminal charges after police say an 8-year-old girl found his unsecured handgun on a kitchen counter and accidentally shot herself through both legs.
Isaiah Richard Chavez, 26, was arrested and charged with child abuse and negligently making a firearm accessible to a minor without great bodily harm, according to court records.
The shooting happened around 6 a.m. on April 27 at a home in the 6500 block of Basket Weaver Avenue NW in Albuquerque.
Police said the young girl suffered a gunshot wound after finding the handgun inside the home.
A relative who is a registered nurse rushed her to the University of New Mexico Hospital, where doctors determined her injuries were not life-threatening.
Chavez, who is the girl’s cousin, did not live at the house but had stayed there overnight and slept on a couch.
He told investigators that before going to sleep, he emptied his pockets and placed his belongings on the kitchen counter, including the handgun.
“I usually never stay here,” Chavez told police in body camera footage. “I usually leave it in my truck if I do stay here.”
According to police, Chavez was asleep when the girl found the weapon.
He later told detectives that he was awakened by the sound of the gunshot.
“I just heard a loud pop,” Chavez said.
He said he immediately ran to his mother’s room and told her he believed the child had shot herself.
Authorities said the bullet traveled through both of the girl’s legs.
After consulting with the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office, police charged Chavez under Bennie’s Law, a New Mexico law that makes it a crime for adults to fail to properly secure firearms from minors.
The law is named after Bennie Hargrove, an Albuquerque student who was shot and killed in 2021 by a classmate who had brought a loaded gun to school.
Chavez’s family has argued that the shooting was a tragic accident and that he should not have been charged.
“It was a freak accident,” one family member told KOAT. “It wasn’t his fault.”
Police disagreed and moved forward with charges.
Chavez was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center and pleaded not guilty, according to KRQE.
His trial is reportedly scheduled for July 2027.
PEOPLE HAVE STUPID KIDS TODAY BECAUSE THEY DON’T TAKE THE TIME TO TRAIN THEIR KIDS PROPERLY, I GREW UP ON A RANCH IN RURAL CALIF. MY DAD ALWAYS LEFT HIS 22 LONG RIFLE OUT FOR US (PROPPED UP SECURELY AGAINST THE STYLES OF A WHITE PICKET FENCE IN OUR FRONT YARD) TO PRACTICE SHOOTING.
WHEN I WAS A KID AS YOUNG AS SEVEN I BEGAN LEARNING TO TARGET SHOOT WITH THAT THAT GUN BECAUSE IT WAS LIGHT ASND EASILY HANDLED. I TARGET SHOT WITH THAT GUN UNTIL I WAS 13 WHEN I WAS GIFTED A 410. I NEVER WOULD HAVE TURNED A GUN ON MYSELF AND SHOT AND I KNEW VERY WELL HOW TO HANDLE FIRE ARMS BY THE TIME I WAS 8 BECAUSE DAD TAUGHT US HOW TO BE CAREFUL WHEN HANDLING FIRE ARMS. MY DAD AND I PARTICIPATED IN MANY TURKEY SHOOTS IN FALL AND I LOVED TO HUNT QUAIL AND PHEASANT ON OUR RANCH. WE ALWAYS KNEW GUNS COULD KILL. MY DAD REALLY DRUMMED SAFETY INTO US BECAUSE AS AN ADULT, HE ACCIDENTLY SHOT HIMSELF IN THE BACK WHEN HIS GUN FELL OVER AND DISCHARGHED AS HE WAS CROSSING A BARBED WIRE FENCE. SO YOUR GUN WAS ALWAYS LAID DOWN FLAT AND WAS NEVER PROPPED UP. YOU NEVER LET ANYONE STEP INTO YOUR LINE OF FIRE IF YOUR GUN WAS UNLOADE OR LOADED. IF SOMEONE WAS UNSAFE AND GOOFED AROUND THEY NEVER ACCOMPANIED US HUNTING AGAIN AS THEY WERE DEEMED TOO DANGEROUS. AND BY THE WAY, I AM A GIRL. I DON’T LIKE TO SHOOT AND KILL ANYTHING AND WHEN I WAS A KID WE ONLY HUNTED FOR FOOD QUAIL, PHEASANT AND DUCKS WERE ALL I HUNTED. I LOVE SKEET SHOOTING AND BEING OUTSIDE. DEIDRE GARDOCKI
I dont think spiks should be allowed to own guns, they are too stupid to function at normal levels.
Isaiah Richard Chavez In New Mexico!!
Man…. more diversity in action