School accused of knowing student had gun, not a repeat
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A student brings a gun to school and shoots someone. Then it turns out the school had received a warning about the gun, and did nothing about it. No, I’m not talking about the shooting at Richneck Elementary School back in January. This time, I’m talking about the 2021 shooting at Washington Middle School in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
On that fateful August day, 13-year-old Juan Saucedo shot and killed 13-year-old Bennie Hargrove outside the school during lunchtime. Bennie was trying to get Saucedo to stop bullying his friends. Instead of heeding Hargrove’s plea, Saucedo retrieved a gun he had taken from his father and proceeded to shoot Hargrove a total of six times. Tragically, Bennie Hargrove succumbed to his injuries and passed away later at the hospital.
Back in March of this year, Saucedo pleaded no-contest to second-degree murder. Under New Mexico law, no one under the age of 14 can be charged as an adult. Saucedo is currently being held in juvenile detention until he turns 21.
At the time of the shooting, it was reported Saucedo had shown his gun to several students. It was thought the gun was never reported to the school. Now, a lawsuit filed by Bennie Hargrove’s family says otherwise.
The lawsuit claims a student of the school did tell the school’s resource officer about the gun, who allegedly ignored the warning. The principal is also accused of knowing about the gun and doing nothing about it. I wonder if the principal was waiting for the school day to end. That seems to be a popular tactic with school officials.
The lawsuit also alleges Saucedo punched another student the day before the shooting, and the school failed to discipline him. I can probably guess why. Public school teachers don’t get paid enough to deal with the type of parents Saucedo had.
In 2018, Juan Saucedo Sr. got into a physical altercation with another parent while waiting in the pick-up line at a local high school. The fight got to a point where Saucedo Sr. shot the other parent in the leg. No charges were ever filed. He’s also not facing any charges for allowing his gun to be used in the shooting because at the time of the shooting, it wasn’t against the law in New Mexico to leave your gun unsecured. Now, imagine that parent-teacher conference over a fight at school. I’m not saying what the school did was right, but too many parents have become nightmares for schools.
It’s a shame that schools have to be sued like this. That’s less money going toward any semblance of an education. But if they’re unwilling to act on a violent threat in their midst, some form of justice needs to be served, the justice Bennie Hargrove’s family has been so far denied.
(Sources)
