LAS CRUCES, NM - Authorities have confirmed that three people have been killed and 15 were injured following a mass shooting at a Las Cruces park on Friday night, March 21st. Three arrests have since been made.
According to KFOX14, police have identified the deceased as 16-year-old Andrew Madrid, 18-year-old Jason Gomez and 19-year-old Dominick Estrada. Those who were injured range in age from 16 to 36 (nine male and six female). The mass shooting took place at Young Park in Las Cruces at an unsanctioned car show. Officers were called to the area just after 10:00 p.m. to reports of gunfire and gunshot victims near the parking lot of the park.
Police said an altercation escalated to gunfire between two groups of people. Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story said that there was some "type of ill will" between the two parties before the car show. He said multiple people had weapons at the event, which then led to the exchange of gunfire. People were injured in that crossfire.
When officers arrived on scene, they found multiple victims with gunshot wounds. Chief Story said that casings were located throughout the parking lot. He added, "All casings found so far are handgun caliber casings. There are no rifle casings consisting of an AK or AR-style rifle."
Images of a man holding an AR-15 rifle have circulated around social media, however, officials said they have questioned the man in those photos and believe that he was not involved in the shooting. Story said that car shows have been an issue in Las Cruces. In this incident, he said there were multiple people with firearms, some that were used in the shooting and "some people with firearms just willy nilly."
Victims were transported to local hospitals, including the University Medical Center in El Paso. Memorial Medical Center said they received six patients. Police said there were about 200 people at the event. They are still trying to identify the suspect or suspects in the case and are following active leads.
Three arrests have been made in connection to the incident: 20-year-old Tomas Rivas and two of the 17-year-old boys. All have been charged with three counts of murder, and will face additional charges.
Las Cruces police are requesting anyone who has video of the events that occurred Friday night at Young Park to submit them to the police. In a statement, Las Cruces Mayor Eric Enriquez said, "Today we mourn a tragic senseless event that happened in our city last night. It's a day for our community. There is no place for violence in our community."
Story said a vehicle with gunfire damage that may have been involved in the incident was located. He also said that multiple guns were found at the scene and elsewhere.
Story said, "It appears that both sides are shooting with handguns. We have recovered some handguns that were discarded in different places. We've recovered some handguns on scene and so we don't have all of them, but we do have some of them."
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said that the state legislature has failed to act amid "the disturbing rise in violent crime in Las Cruces," a city of nearly 115,000 about 45 miles north of El Paso. Grisham said, "The indiscriminate nature of this shooting is both shocking and unacceptable, but sadly not surprising."
The FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the New Mexico State Police, and the Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office are assisting with the investigation.
According to KFOX14, police have identified the deceased as 16-year-old Andrew Madrid, 18-year-old Jason Gomez and 19-year-old Dominick Estrada. Those who were injured range in age from 16 to 36 (nine male and six female). The mass shooting took place at Young Park in Las Cruces at an unsanctioned car show. Officers were called to the area just after 10:00 p.m. to reports of gunfire and gunshot victims near the parking lot of the park.
Police said an altercation escalated to gunfire between two groups of people. Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story said that there was some "type of ill will" between the two parties before the car show. He said multiple people had weapons at the event, which then led to the exchange of gunfire. People were injured in that crossfire.
When officers arrived on scene, they found multiple victims with gunshot wounds. Chief Story said that casings were located throughout the parking lot. He added, "All casings found so far are handgun caliber casings. There are no rifle casings consisting of an AK or AR-style rifle."
Images of a man holding an AR-15 rifle have circulated around social media, however, officials said they have questioned the man in those photos and believe that he was not involved in the shooting. Story said that car shows have been an issue in Las Cruces. In this incident, he said there were multiple people with firearms, some that were used in the shooting and "some people with firearms just willy nilly."
Victims were transported to local hospitals, including the University Medical Center in El Paso. Memorial Medical Center said they received six patients. Police said there were about 200 people at the event. They are still trying to identify the suspect or suspects in the case and are following active leads.
Three arrests have been made in connection to the incident: 20-year-old Tomas Rivas and two of the 17-year-old boys. All have been charged with three counts of murder, and will face additional charges.
Las Cruces police are requesting anyone who has video of the events that occurred Friday night at Young Park to submit them to the police. In a statement, Las Cruces Mayor Eric Enriquez said, "Today we mourn a tragic senseless event that happened in our city last night. It's a day for our community. There is no place for violence in our community."
Story said a vehicle with gunfire damage that may have been involved in the incident was located. He also said that multiple guns were found at the scene and elsewhere.
Story said, "It appears that both sides are shooting with handguns. We have recovered some handguns that were discarded in different places. We've recovered some handguns on scene and so we don't have all of them, but we do have some of them."
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said that the state legislature has failed to act amid "the disturbing rise in violent crime in Las Cruces," a city of nearly 115,000 about 45 miles north of El Paso. Grisham said, "The indiscriminate nature of this shooting is both shocking and unacceptable, but sadly not surprising."
The FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the New Mexico State Police, and the Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office are assisting with the investigation.
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Comments
2 days ago | Comment by: Raconteur
And the call will be for MORE gun control, because the laws we were promised would work, didn't work. Thus, we need to disarm the people who are not committing crimes, to control the criminals who are committing the crimes. Yeah, that's the ticket that will work THIS time! We promise!
1 day ago | Comment by: Dennis
Illegals involved?