West Mesa student appears in court after allegedly bringing gun to school

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — With his head slumped down, 18-year-old Omar Martinez made his first court appearance Friday afternoon. He’s charged with unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon on school property.

Martinez was arrested Thursday after an Albuquerque Public Schools officer got a tip that Martinez had a weapon on him. APS police entered his classroom and told him to put his hands up. They found a gun in his waistband.

“These are kids who are making incredibly stupid decisions and it really has an impact for the rest of their lives,” APS Superintendent Scott Elder said. “These are felony charges.”

Officials say it was a parent who called the school days earlier, claiming they thought their child had a gun on them. It’s not clear if it was Martinez’s parents.

“In this case, we had a mother come forward and do the right thing and try to keep people safe and it worked,” Elder said. “We were able to confiscate these weapons.”

When searching through Martinez’s backpack, officials say they found a magazine with 22 bullets in it.

The APS superintendent advised parents to be careful if they have weapons in the house.

“I need to remind families that they have to make sure their weapons are secured,” Elder said. “It’s not enough to put it in a safe if you tell the kids the code or if you show them how to get in where the gun is. We’ve got to make sure these weapons cannot get in the hands of children.”

APS says they will expel Martinez for at least a year.

The state filed a pretrial detention motion to keep Martinez behind bars until his trial. A district court judge will decide on that soon.