Classes Reopen In N.M. School
Holding hands and praying, about 150 students and adults formed a human chain halfway around Deming Middle School Monday to remember a 13-year-old girl gunned down on campus last week.
Candles, red roses and a half-dozen teddy bears adorned the school grounds for the vigil in memory of Araceli Tena, who died of a bullet wound to the back of her head.
A fellow student, Victor Cordova Jr. of Palomas, Mexico, is charged with the Friday shooting.
The 12-year-old boy, handcuffed and shackled, made a brief court appearance late this morning before a magistrate who ordered him detained on charges of first-degree murder, attempted murder and aggravated assault. Under state law, children under 14 years old cannot be charged as adults.
At the school, Erica Orozco, 11, a seventh-grader whose locker was next to Araceli's, said she wanted to return Monday "to see how all my other friends are, to get used to coming back."
She did not witness the shooting, but said, "I feel like it's going to happen again. I feel very scared."
"You don't know how to cope with something like this here," said Mary Alvarado, 35, whose 11-year-old daughter, Amanda, attends the school. "Eventually, we'll get over it, but this is way overwhelming for everybody."
Superintendent Carlos Viramontes said 40 to 50 counselors were available on campus Monday when classes resumed. It wasn't immediately known how many of the schools' 750 students were in attendance.
Some parents wanted Deming to remain closed until after the Thanksgiving holiday.
One of the students' classmates said in Sunday's Albuquerque Journal that Cordova had boasted the day before the shooting that he would open fire on his school.
Richard Ramirez said Cordova brought .22-caliber bullets to Deming Middle School to show them off Thursday, the day before police say he shot Tena.
"He (Cordova) told us, 'Watch, I'm going to make history blasting this school,"' the 13-year-old told the newspaper.
Ramirez said he did not report the incident to school authorities because he feared Cordova would seek revenge. "I was scared," he said.
Victor Cordova Sr. said his son told him during a visit at the Luna County Juvenile Detention Center in Deming that he had planned to kill himself, but his arm was bumped and the loaded .22 caliber Colt revolver he held discharged. Police said they had no information that would corroborate that version of events.
The boy's family said he has experienced several difficult years dealing with depression, a violent temper and the loss of his 31-year-old mother, Emma Armendaris, who died of cancer in February.
Police declined to comment on Ramirez's statement and would not discuss where the younger Cordova obtained the gun.
The boy lives in Palomas and commutes to school 33 miles away in Deming. He has dual citizenship because he was born in Deming, and he is one of many children living in Palomas who are alloed to cross the border each day to attend classes in Luna County.
Tena was the oldest of three children, her uncle Beto Tena said.
"She was a very good girl," he said in Spanish. "She was the best girl she could be. Her brother and sister are very sad. They don't even want to eat right now."
By Michelle Koidin
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