New Mexico mother asks neighbor to turn down loud music, then allegedly tells her 10-year-old son to get a gun: ‘I’m probably going to jail right now’

Keinerlein Rangel, 16, died on October 31, 2026, outside the Albuquerque apartment she and her mother had just settled into, and investigators say the bullet came from a neighbor’s 10-year-old boy. His mother, Elaina Gomez-Villeda, 40, allegedly sent him indoors for her handgun mid-fight. She was charged the next day with an open count of murder, KRQE reported, plus various other charges including child abuse, misdemeanor, battery, and conspiracy to commit murder.

According to court filings reported by the Associated Press, it began when Gomez Villeda went to the Rangels’ door to complain about the volume. Susana Rangle insisted it wasn’t excessive. Shortly afterward, as the pair stepped outside to put up a camera over their entrance, Gomez-Villeda came at them again and hit them both “an unknown number of times,” as the Albuquerque Journal summarized the charging document.

The 10-year-old son of Gomez-Villeda had tried to separate them before his mother gave the instruction that brought the gun outside. He fired once, and the bullet hit Rangel’s head, per the Journal. “At some point in time, a 10-year-old came outside and tried to get his mother out of that physical dispute,” Albuquerque Police Chief Cecily Barker said, according to KOAT. Things spiraled further out of control from that point.

The chaos didn’t stop after that first gunshot

Gomez-Villeda pulled the boy indoors after that gunshot and messaged her husband, “I’m probably going to jail right now,” before dialing 911. Rangel’s father, who had learned of the shooting from his wife, yanked at Gomez-Villeda’s door during that call, smashing a window. She told detectives she armed herself and shot toward him to drive him off, adding, “I thought we were gonna die.” 

Responding to a 4:02 p.m. call, officers saw shots fired out of the unit, and one of them shot at Gomez-Villeda as she came out armed, hitting a pillar instead. The weapon that killed Rangel was apparently stolen in Santa Fe, per the Journal, and prosecutors want her jailed until trial, arguing that her conduct showed “an extreme disregard for the lives and safety of others.” 

No charges have been filed against the boy, whose name remains private. Detectives, state officials and the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office are still weighing his age and the possibility of criminal charges. Either way, New Mexico’s Children’s Code forbids placing any child younger than 12 in detention. His mother’s firearm falls under another act, which treats careless storage that lets a child reach a gun as misdemeanor, climbing to a fourth-degree felony when that use causes a death or great bodily harm.