At least three people were killed and at least 15 others were injured in a shooting at a park in the desert city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, police said Saturday.
Police on Saturday asked for bystanders to share videos and other tips as they continued to seek a suspect or suspects in the shooting, which occurred at about 10 p.m. local time on Friday in the city’s Young Park, a music and recreation venue. Police said there were approximately 200 people at the park during the incident. Several were injured in cross-fire.
The deceased are two 19-year-old men and a 16-year-old boy, according to the Las Cruces Police Department. Names of the dead and those who were injured have not yet been released.
Those injured ranged in age from 16 to 36 years, police said. Multiple firearms were involved in the shooting, Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story said at a news conference on Saturday, and 50-60 bullet casings were found.
Justin Garcia/The Albuquerque Journal via AP
Gunshot victims were sent to all three local hospitals, as well as to the University Medical Center of El Paso, the regional trauma center, according to police and hospital officials. Six patients arrived at Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces by ambulance and private car, said marketing and communications director Andrew Cummins and seven of those have been transported to El Paso.
Four have been treated and released, said Las Cruces Fire Chief Michael Daniels at the news conference.
In a post to Instagram on Saturday, Las Cruces City Councilor and Mayor Pro Tem Johana Bencomo put numbers to 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 sits on the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert along the Rio Grande River in southern New Mexico, about 41 miles north of the U.S.-Mexican border.
The Las Cruces Police Department said police and fire personnel who arrived at the park in response to reports of gunfire are being assisted in their investigation by New Mexico State Police, the Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Young Park and all roadways leading to the park are temporarily closed as the investigation continues.
