(The Center Square) – David Anthony Aguilar has been sentenced to 53 months in prison, Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, announced this week.
In September 2023, Aguilar, a 27-year-old from Las Cruces, pleaded guilty in federal court to being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of an unregistered firearm.
On January 25, 2023, Las Cruces Police Department law enforcement officers responded to a report of a gunshot victim at an apartment in Las Cruces, according to the office.
When law enforcement officers arrived, they found a deceased victim with a single gunshot to the head.
There was a 12-gauge short-barrel shotgun located on the floor next to the victim.
A neighbor of the victim told officers that they went to the victim’s apartment after hearing a loud bang following an argument.
When the neighbor knocked on the front door, Aguilar answered and was holding the short barrel shotgun.
Aguilar told the neighbor that the victim had shot herself and that the neighbor should call 911.
When the neighbor came back to the apartment, they saw Aguilar and a man later identified as Margarito Serena fleeing the scene.
Law enforcement apprehended Aguilar and Serena that same day.
Aguilar told law enforcement that he and the victim had a physical altercation over the shotgun and that he had accidentally discharged the firearm.
Aguilar also said that Serena brought the shotgun to the apartment earlier that day, and the two left the scene because they were both convicted felons.
Serena, a 30-year-old from Las Cruces, pleaded guilty in federal court to being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of an unregistered firearm in April 2023. Serena received a 6.5-year prison sentence plus three years of supervised release.
Aguilar also received three years of supervised release upon his release from prison.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated this case with help from the Las Cruces Police Department; Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maria Y. Armijo and Ry Ellison are prosecuting it.
