ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina reiterated the importance of keeping guns locked up after a 2-year-old lost his life.

“Firearms should be secured from children not only so they don’t go commit a crime with the firearm but so they don’t hurt themselves,” said Medina. 

Police say Leon Garcia got a hold of his mother’s gun and fired it. Now, four people – including his mother – are charged in his death. 

Police say Leon’s 1-year-old sibling was also in the apartment at the time of the shooting. They were turned over to the Children, Youth & Families Department before being placed in the custody of a relative. 

Medina says this case is absolutely tragic and could have been prevented. 

Police and first responders swarmed an apartment complex in southeast Albuquerque Sunday afternoon. 20-year-old Amillia Garcia told detectives she was in another room when she heard something loud go off.

“It is absolutely terrible, a 2-year-old is left with access to a firearm. It is a complete avoidable tragedy that could have been avoided by a simple few measures. Make sure you secure your firearm,” said Medina.

According to Garcia’s criminal complaint, she took her son upstairs to her friend Angelica Lucero. That’s when Lucero reportedly told her boyfriend, Angel Cordova, to leave because he was on probation. 

“A lot of concerning things occurred after this occurred. We know weapons were gathered, they were removed from the scene, and our detectives worked very hard and diligently to get everyone back to the scene. We did recover a total of six firearms from the scene,” Medina said. 

Garcia was charged with child abuse resulting in death. APD will be updating charges to include another state statute.

“We got to make sure that our residents remember there is a law, Benny’s Law, that requires people to secure their firearms around children,” said Medina. 

The other three people in the apartment are now charged with tampering with evidence. Cordova is also charged for being a felon in possession of a firearm. 

“ATF has agreed to adopt this case so we can charge this individual federally because we know they have harsher penalties at the federal level,” said Medina. 

Garcia also told police she bought the gun on the streets to protect herself from a family member.

KOB 4 looked into some previous cases involving Garcia, and we know she was briefly placed in CYFD custody when she was younger.