Associated Press/Reed Saxon

Freddie Prinze Jr.

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Ouch.

Actor Freddie Prinze Jr. is being quoted on a movie Web site as saying he fled Albuquerque as soon as he could after graduating high school because of the city's gang violence.

"I grew up all over the place, but the majority of my years were spent in Albuquerque, New Mexico," Prinze is quoted as saying this week at Movie Web. "My mom had hoped it would be safer there, but it ended up being the gang murder capital of the country. So I got out as soon as I could when I turned 18."

Prinze was born in Los Angeles in 1976 and moved to Albuquerque as a small child with his mother, not long after his famous father committed suicide. He graduated from La Cueva High School in 1994, returning to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.

Prinze's Web site says he also attended Eldorado and Sandia.

The bio on his Web site talks of a "tumultuous" childhood peopled with peers who "enjoyed bringing others down."

La Cueva Principal Jo Ann Coffee on Friday declined to comment on Prinze's remarks, saying she didn't know him personally.

Mayor Martin Chavez responded with a statement: "It is obvious that Freddie Prinze has not been to Albuquerque recently. Albuquerque is on all the right lists, and we invite him back to visit with us."

The Tribune was unable to reach Prinze's publicist.

Prinze stars in the mob movie "Brooklyn Rules," which opened Friday in New York. The film was written by Terence Winter, a longtime writer of HBO's "The Sopranos."

Prinze's last movie, "Happily N'Ever After," in which he provided the voice of the hero, got a tepid reaction from moviegoers. It earned about $15 million at the box office. His biggest hit was the 1999 romantic comedy "She's All That."

He starred in the ABC TV show "Freddie" during the 2005-06 season.

He married actress Sarah Michelle Gellar in 2002.

His father died in 1977 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound during the height of his popularity as the star of the TV hit "Chico and the Man."