Boy struck by stray bullet is recovering
Few signs remain of weekend violence
The day after a 14-year-old boy was struck by a stray bullet while sleeping in his bed, the Southwest Albuquerque mobile home park where he lived was relatively quiet.
An evidence marker could be seen — taped on the vinyl siding of the home — apparently meant to denote a bullet hole. The windows of a vehicle parked in the driveway were shattered.
Otherwise, few signs remained of the weekend’s violence at the Rosewood Mobile Home Park on 98th near Tower SW.
The boy’s aunt, Gabriella Vasquez, said in Spanish through a translator that he is improving.
She said her sister called her yesterday to tell her about the shooting.
Vasquez described her nephew, a middle child, as calm and active and said he loves to play soccer. The boy, who has not been publicly identified, was an 8th grader at Christine Duncan Heritage Academy charter school. The “dual language” school has a little more than 400 students, including the boy and his two younger siblings.
A school official said they held an assembly for 7th and 8th graders Monday morning to talk about the shooting and offer counseling to students who need it.
Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department, said a woman called 911 early Sunday morning to say her son had been shot in the back while he was asleep. His father took him to the hospital before officers arrived, and he is in critical but stable condition.
Shortly after that, police were told two other people, a man and a woman, were also taken to the hospital.
Their injuries were not life threatening and Gallegos said the man has been released from the hospital. The woman is still there and is in stable condition.
Gallegos did not say what relationship, if any, the man and the woman had to the boy or how they are involved in the shooting.
“Detectives are working investigative leads at this time,” he wrote in an email.