ROSWELL, N.M. (KRQE) – Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to reflect the age of one of the children and where the girl was sleeping when she was shot.
Another New Mexico man is facing charges under Bennie’s Law. Roswell police arrested 32-year-old Phillip Jaramillo Wednesday morning, September 6, for the August 20 shooting that left his ten-year-old daughter dead.
Investigators say that the girl’s eight-year-old brother and his twelve-year-old friend were playing with Jaramillo’s guns when one of them went off, hitting the girl who was sleeping in the room. Police say Jaramillo tried to hide his guns in an RV; due to that, Jaramillo has been charged with tampering with evidence.
Bennie’s Law, named after slain Washington Middle School student Bennie Hargrove, is a new law against negligently making a gun accessible to a minor, resulting in great bodily harm or death. The boy was killed in August 2021 after another student brought his dad’s gun to campus and shot Hargrove after Hargrove stood up to the boy for bullying other students.
A Questa man, 39-year-old William Brown, is also facing charges after New Mexico State Police say his 13-year-old son shot and killed a 14-year-old girl. Brown, who owned the guns in the home, was charged with negligent making a firearm accessible to a minor, resulting in death.
This is the second person to face charges under this new law.
