3 teens killed, 15 others injured in New Mexico mass shooting
Between 50 and 60 shell casings were found, suggesting multiple shooters and multiple weapons within two opposing groups
Three people died and 15 others were injured after an altercation broke out on Friday at a park in the desert city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, police said on Saturday.
Police and fire crews arrived at just after 10pm on Friday onto 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 ranging in age from 16 to 36 were treated on the scene or sent to area hospitals.
Between 50 and 60 shell casings – all from handguns – were found scattered across a wide swathe of the large park, Police Chief Jeremy Story said, suggesting multiple shooters and multiple weapons within the two opposing groups. Several others were injured in the crossfire, he said.
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, the 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 sent to three 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.