Lawsuit alleges BCSO could’ve used red flag law to prevent Mother’s Day murders
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Two years ago, Albuquerque police found two teens murdered in a parking lot. It was a weekend when a local mother should’ve been celebrating with her children, but instead she was getting a devastating call.
Now, a lawsuit has been filed claiming the two murders could have been prevented. The lawsuit claims Bernalillo County deputies failed to enact the red flag law in this case, and because of that failure, the man responsible for the murders still had access to his guns.
This is not the first time we’ve reported on coverage gaps under the red flag law. On Mother’s Day in 2022, Albuquerque police spent the weekend investigating the murder of two teens.
Alexia Rael and Mario Salgado-Rosales were murdered by Rael’s mother’s ex-boyfriend, Bradley Wallin, who later killed himself.
The red flag law is designed to temporarily restrict firearm access to those who are at risk of hurting themselves or others.
The suit says it could have stopped Wallin from killing the teens in the Party City parking lot off Coors that May.
According to court documents, Wallin was stalking Rael at her job, and assaulted her a month before the shooting. After telling her mom about the abuse, Wallin was kicked out of their house.
The lawsuit claims BCSO deputies had evidence to prove Wallin posed a threat to others and himself, but didn’t do anything to mitigate the threat. Weeks later, Wallin shot and killed the teens.
This is not the first time we’ve reported on issues with the red flag law. Earlier this year, KOB’s 4 Investigates team sat down with the family of Matthias Wynkoop.
In February, he pointed a gun at police and officers shot at him. Then, he shot and killed himself. He was under the red flag law at the time, but his family says the protection under the law wasn’t enough.
“I think the red flag law completely failed Matthias,” said Florence Thompson.
In Wynkoop’s case, a judge ruled he couldn’t have guns for a year after a prior incident, waving a gun at police while drunk. But Wynkoop’s family says it didn’t make a difference.
“The red flag law, to me, is just secondary. The real issue is mental health,” said Marsha Torres. “There has to be more than just taking someone’s firearms from them, because where’s the follow-up?”
His family says he battled with his mental health and abused alcohol but was trying to get help, the gap in support led to a tragedy.
That’s what this new lawsuit is claiming too, deputies created a gap in care and didn’t inform Rael’s family of the red flag law at all.
KOB 4 reached out to BCSO about the lawsuit and Bernalillo County. Spokespeople for both say they cannot comment on active litigation.
MORE: