Motive unknown after man shoots stepmother during graduation ceremony at Kiva Auditorium

May 9—The graduation ceremony was winding down inside the Albuquerque Convention Center on Wednesday. Students of Southwest Secondary Learning Center were asked to hand roses to relatives and friends.

Then, police say, a loud pop rang out, and a woman grabbed her neck and fell to the floor. Her ex-stepson, with a gun in his hand, raised his foot as if to stomp on her.

But witnesses jumped in and subdued the man until police arrived. The woman was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

The family said the mother of three will survive but faces a long recovery, and the motive behind the shooting remains unclear.

Cristian Bencomo, 21, is charged with aggravated battery against a household member and unlawful carrying and negligently using a deadly weapon.

Mary Bencomo, Bencomo's grandmother, told the Journal he has never been in trouble and has no criminal record. She was also at the ceremony to see her grandson, Bencomo's half-brother, graduate.

"This was totally devastating because I didn't see anything like this happening," Mary Bencomo said. "I don't even know where he got that gun, how he got it."

The grandmother said she took Cristian Bencomo to get a haircut Wednesday morning, and they sat together during the ceremony.

"There was nothing out of the ordinary," Mary Bencomo said. She said Cristian Bencomo went to congratulate his half-brother when the shooting occurred.

A GoFundMe page set up by relatives said the woman, who is in her 30s, is "facing a long road to recovery" after being shot in the neck by her "ex stepson." The website said she now has a feeding tube after undergoing hours of surgery.

"She is not only dealing with the physical wounds but also the emotional trauma that comes with such a traumatic event," according to the GoFundMe post.

Bencomo was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center early Friday morning.

The Kiva Auditorium, which is inside the Albuquerque Convention Center, hosted the graduation for Southwest Secondary Learning Center charter school. Hundreds were scheduled to attend.

Albuquerque police responded around 5 p.m. Wednesday to reports of a shooting inside the Kiva Auditorium.

Officers found a woman shot in the neck and several bystanders holding down Bencomo, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. A witness was about to accept a rose from one of the graduates when he "heard a loud pop," police were told.

Police said the man told them he was unsure it was a gunshot until seeing the woman holding her neck and she fell to the ground. The man said he saw the shooter — later identified as Bencomo — lift his leg "as if he was going to stomp" the woman's head.

The witness told police he grabbed Bencomo by the belt and pulled him back before another bystander helped him hold Bencomo down until police arrived, according to the complaint. Bencomo was detained and "went back and forth on whether or not he wanted to speak with (police)" before deciding to remain silent.

Police said the stepmother told them at the hospital that she was congratulating her son, who had just graduated, when she spotted Bencomo and "greeted him." The woman said she went to hug Bencomo and he pulled out a gun and shot her in the neck.

"He never said anything to her before shooting her, and there were no issues that she could think of that would cause him to shoot her," according to the complaint.