Police have charged two 17-year-old boys and a 20-year-old man with three open counts of murder after a mass shooting in a New Mexico park that killed three teenagers and injured 15 people.
Tomas Rivas, 20, and the alleged teen shooter, who has not been named, were arrested by Las Cruces Police Saturday evening. A third teenager, also 17, was arrested Sunday morning.
The victims of Friday’s shooting in Young Park have been identified as 16-year-old Andrew Madrid, 18-year-old Jason Gomez and 19-year-old Dominick Estrada. Madrid and Gomez died at the scene and Estrada later died from his injuries at MountainView Regional Medical Center, police confirmed.
The other injured victims, whose ages range from 16 – 36, have not been identified, but police said nine are male and six are female.
Police said the older suspect will be booked into the Dona Ana County Detention Center, where he will initially be held without bond, while the teenagers will be remanded to the juvenile detention facility.
Around 200 people were gathered in the park for an unauthorized car show Friday night, where modified sports car drivers show their vehicles off. There was “a party-like atmosphere,” witnesses told the New York Times.
An altercation between two groups escalated into gunfire, leaving three dead and 15 injured, police said at a press conference Saturday morning.
Young Park and the surrounding roads nearby were closed while investigators were at the scene.
State Rep. Nicole Chavez said her “heart goes out to all those affected” in the shooting. “Let’s come together as a state & community to support the victims and their families during this difficult time,” Chavez said in a statement. “This is also another unfortunate reminder that change needs to be made when it comes to crime and public safety in our state.”
Johana Bencomo, the mayor pro tem, said the incident was “a heinous act of violence that will leave our city mourning” in an Instagram post. “Part of me wanted to write that this is something you never really think is going to happen in your city, but that actually feels deeply untrue.”
