Three killed, six injured in New Mexico mass shooting
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The gunman opened fire randomly on cars and houses, as per police reports.
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Investigators work along a residential street following a deadly shooting Monday, May 15, 2023, in Farmington. (AP)
An 18-year-old man with at least three weapons combed a neighborhood in northwest New Mexico on Monday, shooting indiscriminately at homes and automobiles, killing three people and wounding six others, including two police officers, before he was killed, according to officials.
The shootings took place around 11 am in Farmington, a city of about 50,000 people near the Four Corners — where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado meet.
It is worth noting that the city is considered a supply line and bedroom community to the region’s oil and natural gas industry.
The shooting was “honestly one of the most horrific and difficult days that Farmington has ever had as a community,” he said.
The shooter's and the victims' identities weren't immediately made public.
Investigators were still having trouble figuring out why the incident occurred, even after speaking with the shooter's relatives.
“But at this point it appears to be purely random, that there was no schools, no churches and no individuals targeted,” Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe said. “During the course of the event, the suspect roamed throughout the neighborhood up to a quarter of a mile. At least six houses and three cars were shot in the course of the event, as the suspect randomly fired at whatever entered his head to shoot at.”
In a statement, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham expressed her concern for the victims' families and noted that the tragedy "serves as yet another reminder of how gun violence destroys lives in our state and our country every single day."
The incident, according to a statement from Mayor Nate Duckett, "has left us reeling in anguish and disbelief."
At 10:57 am, police started getting reports of gunfire. Hebbe said the gunman was killed three minutes after the first cop arrived at the scene at 11:02 am.
Schools were shut down at first because police believed there may be a second suspect "because we didn't know where any other suspects could be," the chief stated. However, he claimed that it now seemed as though the 18-year-old acted alone.
Video shows US police killing man after responding to wrong address
In response to a report about domestic violence last month, Farmington police went to the incorrect location and shot and killed a man at his front door.
The Gun Violence Archive database reports an estimated 44,000 gun-related deaths in the United States last year, with around half of them being murder cases, accidents, and self-defense, and the other half being suicides.
America has long been engulfed in mass tensions between police and citizens due to police brutality and the use of excessive force.
It revealed that 14 individuals were shot or died in "officer-involved incidents" in New Mexico this year, according to the archive.
According to the archive, more than 5,000 individuals in the United States perished as a result of firearm-related violence in 2023.
In light of the recent shooting in #Texas, here are the deadliest mass shootings in the US this year. The shootings come amid a clash in #US politics about #guncontrol. pic.twitter.com/lYQExsf7gh
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) May 9, 2023
