ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Body camera video shows a man charging into the courthouse in Cibola County with an ax, and threatening to kill a judge. It’s the kind of threat the courts are tracking and trying to prevent.

The National Center for State Courts is pushing to create a central database to keep track of all courthouse incidents and use it to spot trends across the country. There have been multiple incidents in New Mexico recently.

Earlier this month, a man showed up to district court in Cibola County carrying an ax, threatening to kill a judge. The courthouse was placed under lockdown.

Authorities later arrested that man and charged him. He waived his appearance but entered a not-guilty plea.

Days after the ax incident, Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputies believe Heather Thomas threatened to hang a judge after sneaking into the 2nd Judicial District courthouse to another judge’s chamber to leave a letter and sticky notes on their desk – which is a fourth-degree felony.

Investigators believe Thomas was upset with the ruling of her daughter’s case when she threatened the judges. That’s something the court system says it’s seeing more often.

“Usually in a court case, one party ends up happy and the other is not. That hasn’t really resulted in as much risk or threats to judges in the past. But it seems to be more common now,” said Arthur Pepin, director of the Administrative Office of the Courts. 

Pepin says they are tracking these kinds of threats across the country.

“We would report these to the centralized database, and then we could see what kinds of threats are happening if somebody has incidents similar to what we’re experiencing,” Pepin said. 

Deputies think plumbers on a job at the courthouse let Thomas into the judge’s chamber. They’re now urging outside contractors, who don’t normally work there, to be mindful of courthouse safety.

“Court personnel are getting further up to speed on the need to be vigilant about security risk. But it’s hard when you have other folks who aren’t trained by us, understand just how challenging it can be to, ensure the safety of judges and judicial employees,” Pepin said.

Pepin told KOB 4 they are considering more formal security plans for non-court employees in secured courthouse areas.