Student walks off from Milan Elementary
MILAN, N.M. – Law enforcement across Cibola County went into full activation when a sixth-grade student from Milan Elementary walked out of the school and was missing for about 15 minutes on February 9. Milan Police Department, Cibola County Sheriff’s Office, Grants Police Department, Grants Fire and Rescue, and New Mexico State Police were all alert and on the lookout for the missing student, who was later found safely at his uncle’s house on Catalina Avenue in the Village of Milan.
“The principal and the school staff did an amazing job, by the time we first arrived they were already out their canvassing the area and looking for this student,” Sergeant Joe Galindo, MPD, said. MPD takes extra care to ensure that Milan elementary has the resources it needs to be successful and safe, the moment they learned that a student had disappeared from campus they jumped into gear and came out in force to find the sixth grader. According to Sgt. Galindo, the student had asked his teacher to use the restroom. He signed out of class and took the bathroom pass, but after a few minutes of being gone the teacher became concerned and sent another boy to the restroom just across the hall to make sure the student was safe, but the boy returned with the hair-raising news that the student was nowhere to be found. The teacher wasted no time alerting Principal Clara DeArmond, who quickly alerted the police and G/CCS Superintendent of Schools Max Perez. According to Perez, he and Grants High School security went out to go searching the train tracks for the boy.
Due to COVID-19, Milan Fire Department was not in a position to come out in full force, MPD offered a large thank you to Grants Fire and Rescue for coming out along with CCSO, NMSP, and GPD, for their assistance in the search. For the last several years, Milan Elementary was the only school in the district that had video cameras. Thinking they would have the ability to access them and quickly discover a route the missing student may have taken, MPD asked to review the video footage which they were unable to do because the cameras were inaccessible due to the cameras being upgraded, according to Superintendent Perez. Superintendent Perez declared that all of the county’s schools are receiving the new cameras, a first for many of the aged schools, and that the only issue with them was that training was not yet available for the Milan Elementary School on the new cameras before the incident occurred. Speaking with Superintendent Perez on February 10, he expressed, “If this incident would have been occurred today it would have been a different story. It’s unfortunate that it happened when it did because the [school] was going to receive training on the new cameras today.”
Perez continued, “The camera system is up and its brand new. I don’t know if cameras would have changed the situation. We are doing this because the cameras they had in the school were archaic, had limited range, and were just old.” After officers discovered the student had left school to his uncle’s house, they alerted the school where MPD was still present. According to multiple witnesses, including MPD, the superintendent and security from Grants High School were puling into the roundabout entrance of Milan Elementary when the call came in that the student was found. Allegedly, the superintendent and GHS security turned around, never going inside the school, and left. “It was all hands-on deck,” Superintendent Perez said, “I was there within five minutes, security from GHS was with me and we had staff combing the elementary school. I was on the bridge by the railroad tracks for approximately 15 minutes searching around.” He concluded, “We were taking this very seriously, I was doing work I thought would be most beneficial to help.” According to the superintendent, all school administrations are receiving trainings on how to use the new cameras.
The sixth-grade student was discovered unharmed at his uncle’s house. Milan Police Department offered a big thank you to all agencies and everyone involved in the search for the missing student. “Especially the school staff, Clara [DeArmond] and her staff did a great job and were quick in helping us find the student,” Sgt. Galindo said.