Three killed and 15 wounded in shooting at park in New Mexico
Victims were taken to three local hospitals as well as to University Medical Centre of El Paso.
Three people have been killed and 15 injured after an altercation broke out at a park in the desert city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, police said.
Officers and fire crews arrived at just after 10pm on Friday to a chaotic scene at the city’s Young Park, where an unauthorised car show had drawn about 200 people, police said during a news conference.
Gunshot victims aged from 16 to 36 were treated at the scene or taken to hospital.
Between 50 and 60 shell casings — all from handguns — were found scattered across a wide area of the large park, Police Chief Jeremy Story said, suggesting multiple attackers and multiple weapons in two opposing groups.
Those who died were two 19-year-old men and a 16-year-old boy. Their names and those of the other victims were not yet being released.
Local police were being assisted in their investigation by New Mexico State Police, Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Las Cruces Fire Chief Michael Daniels said seven patients were treated at the scene, including two who died, and 11 others were taken to local hospitals or to University Medical Centre of El Paso, the regional trauma centre.
By Saturday, seven of the surviving victims were in El Paso, while four others had been treated and released and the four remaining victims’ conditions were not known, he said.
Authorities asked for videos and other tips from those in attendance as they worked to identify a suspect or suspects.
“This horrendous, senseless act is a stark reminder of the blatant disregard people in New Mexico have for the rule of law and order,” Mr Story said, vowing about the perpetrators to “find each and every one of them, and we will. We will hold them accountable to the criminal justice system”.
In a post to Instagram on Saturday, Las Cruces city councillor Johana Bencomo expressed grief at the tragedy.
“Part of me wanted to write that this is something you never really think this is going to happen in your city, but that actually feels deeply untrue,” she wrote. “Honestly now days a tragedy like this feels like a nightmare just waiting to come true at any possible moment, yet also always praying and hoping it never will.”
Las Cruces is on the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert along the Rio Grande River in southern New Mexico, about 41 miles north of the Mexican border.
The shootings cast a pall over efforts by New Mexico governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and the state legislature to tackle persistently high crime rates and concerns about gun violence.
Ms Lujan Grisham recently signed off on a package of enhanced penalties for vehicle theft, fentanyl trafficking and school shooting threats, along with a ban on devices that convert guns to automatic weapons.
Legislators passed an overhaul of the state’s gun law that can temporarily remove firearms from people who may be a danger, and bolstered funding for addiction and mental health treatment.
But the governor also said this week she was “appalled” by progress on juvenile justice reforms, as time ran out on a 60-day legislative session on Saturday.
