I'm Janel Carnero, and I'm Chris's mom. My 13-year-old son was killed in his own bedroom this year — and I learned that under New Mexico law, the boy who killed him will be released at 15 with no supervision, no treatment, and no plan. I started this petition because no family should ever have to learn what I learned. We can't bring Chris back. We can change the law that failed him — and I'm asking you to stand with us.

— Janel Carnero, Las Cruces, New Mexico

Chris Carnero was 13 years old. He was the kid who scanned every cafeteria for the person sitting alone — and went and sat with them. He loved fishing, soccer, video games, and the window seat of an airplane; he was learning to fly through a youth pilot program, because the sky was his favorite place in the world. He was kind in a way people remembered. It's why, after we lost him, his name became a movement: Love Like Chris.

On March 30, 2026, Chris was shot and killed in his own bedroom, in his family's home in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The shooter was a boy he knew — also 13 — who brought a stolen gun into the house.

What makes this more than a tragedy is what the system knew, and what it did. For roughly nine months before the killing, the shooter had been under investigation — breaking into vehicles, stealing firearms. New Mexico's Children, Youth and Families Department had received 18 reports about his mother. The warnings were there. Nothing stopped what  happened to Chris.

And the system's answer afterward was this: a two-year commitment. The young person who took Chris's life will be released at 15 with no supervision, no treatment, no community service, and no restitution. From inside detention, on video calls his sister and friends recorded and posted on social media, he has promised to shoot up Las Cruces  when he gets out. Those recordings were handed to the district attorney, the police, and the detention center. The clock is still running.

This law leaves judges' hands tied, leaves warning signs invisible, leaves parents without support or accountability until it's too late — then releases a troubled young person into the community with nothing: no help for him, no protection for everyone else. Accountability and intervention are not opposites. Done right, accountability is protection — for the public, and for a young person who still has time to change.

Chris's Law, built for New Mexico's 2027 legislative session, stands on four priorities:

1. Meaningful accountability for serious and violent juvenile offenses.
2. Full-history consideration — judges able to see a young person's complete, relevant record.
3. Parent accountability and family support — so 18 reports about a household trigger help and consequences early, not silence.
4. Structured supervision with intervention services after release — treatment, oversight, and a plan, instead of nothing.

We, the undersigned, call on the New Mexico Legislature and the Governor of New Mexico to pass Chris's Law in the 2027 legislative session.

Sign for Chris. Sign for the next family. Love like Chris — and let's make the law love our kids back.