LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Four people have been charged in the March 21 mass shooting at Young Park.
Tomas Rivas, 20, is one of them and was charged with three counts of murder. The other three suspects were not been identified due to them being minors. Two of them are 17 years of age and the other one is 15.
An estimated 200 people were at Young Park watching an unsanctioned car show. Police said two young men got into a fight and shortly after 10 p.m., the shooting started.
Witness Craig Theriault was at the car show and helped a kid who had a bullet hole in his forehead.
“His mother was begging me to save him, so I just started praying and I just started reading scriptures to him to help him pass if he did pass,” Theriault said. “Yesterday morning, he woke up with a bright future and this morning, he’s not breathing anymore. He’s with God.”
Witness Christian Salas was also at the car meet and his brother was with him.
“I see about four bodies on the floor and everyone running around trying to see what’s going on,” Salas said. “It was chaos, chaos everywhere.”
Three people were killed in the shooting. 16-year-old Andrew Madrid, who played baseball at Centennial High School, was one of the deceased. 17-year-old Jason Gomez and 19-year-old Dominic Estrada were the other two victims. Family members have set up memorials at the park for each of them.
Las Cruces Chief of Police Jeremy Story spoke at the press conference the day after, assuring the public of justice.
“There are a lot of hurting people right now in our community,” Story said. “Our next focus is the apprehension of those involved and those responsible for this atrocity. We will find each and every one of them and we will hold them accountable to the criminal justice system.”
15 people were injured in the shooting. They range in age from 16 to 36. Nine are male and six are female.
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