Albuquerque woman gets 2 years in child gun death case

A gun left on a sofa in an Albuquerque apartment turned fatal for a 2-year-old boy, and the court response now reaches beyond the shooting itself to the adults who handled the weapon afterward. Angel Morales was sentenced to two years behind bars on June 16, 2026, after a Bernalillo County jury convicted her of tampering with evidence and conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence.

The child died in April 2025 in an apartment near Gibson Boulevard and Yale Boulevard after he got hold of the unattended firearm and shot himself. Prosecutors said Morales and another suspect took the gun and fled after the child was shot, turning a moment of gun-safety failure into a broader criminal case about what adults did next.

Judge David Murphy said at sentencing that Morales had never accepted responsibility and that her sentencing memorandum tried to blame others. The sentence is shorter than what is seen in many homicide cases, but it still reflects how seriously New Mexico courts are treating conduct tied to a child’s death when adults are accused of helping conceal evidence.

The child’s mother, Amillia Garcia, separately pleaded guilty in March 2026 to child abandonment resulting in death and tampering with evidence. She faced up to 10 years in prison after that plea, underscoring that prosecutors treated the shooting itself and the aftermath as distinct legal issues. Court reporting also said four adults connected to the case were initially released until trial, showing the investigation extended well beyond Morales alone.

The case puts a sharp local spotlight on preventable gun access in Bernalillo County. A firearm left within reach on a couch, bed or table can become lethal in seconds, especially in homes where young children are present. New Mexico enacted a child-access prevention law in 2023 that can criminally penalize adults who negligently make a firearm accessible to a minor, and state data shows police have used that law in 35 cases since it passed.

For Albuquerque families, the lesson is plain: secure storage is not an abstract public-safety slogan, but a daily obligation with life-or-death consequences. The apartment near Gibson and Yale is now part of a growing record of child gun deaths and prosecutions that have pushed New Mexico courts to weigh not just the trigger pull, but the adult choices that made the tragedy possible.