Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Gunman Kills 3 and Injures 6 While Shooting at Cars, Houses, Police Say
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 2 years ago on
May 16, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

An 18-year-old man armed with at least three guns roamed through a northwestern New Mexico community firing randomly at cars and houses, killing three people and injuring six others including two police officers before he was killed, authorities said.

The shootings occurred around 11 a.m. Monday in Farmington, a city of about 50,000 people near the Four Corners — where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado meet — that is a supply line and bedroom community to the region’s oil and natural gas industry.

Officers responding to reports of shots being fired encountered the attacker within minutes and killed him with at least one shot, Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe said in a video released Monday night. He said the gunman fired at least three weapons, including an “AR-style rifle.”

The shooting was “honestly one of the most horrific and difficult days that Farmington has ever had as a community,” he said.

The identities of the gunman and the victims weren’t immediately released.

Investigators were still struggling to determine a motive for the attack, including talking to the shooter’s family.

“But at this point it appears to be purely random, that there was no schools, no churches and no individuals targeted,” 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.”

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement that she was praying for the families of the victims and that it “serves at yet another reminder of how gun violence destroys lives in our state and our country every single day.”

Mayor Nate Duckett said in a statement that the shooting “has left us reeling in anguish and disbelief.”

At Hills Church, just a few miles away from the attack scene, dozens of people gathered around a tall metal cross as the sun set Monday to pray. Some wrapped their arms around each other as they listened. The mayor and law enforcement officers were among those in the crowd.

Lead pastor Matt Mizell talked about living in a “dark and broken world” but told the crowd that there was still hope and asked God to provide them strength.

Officers began receiving reports of gunshots at about 10:57 a.m. The first officer arrived at 11:02 a.m. and three minutes later the gunman had been killed, Hebbe said.

At first officers thought there might be a second suspect and schools were locked down “because we didn’t know where any other suspects could be,” the chief said. However, it now appears that the 18-year-old acted alone, he said.

Police Officer Shot

One Farmington officer was shot and taken to the hospital, where he was treated and released, while a state police officer also was shot and drove himself to the hospital where he remained and is doing well, Hebbe said. That officer was reported to be in stable condition.

Joseph Robledo, a 32-year-old tree trimmer, said he rushed home after learning that his wife and 1-year-old daughter had sought shelter in the laundry room when gunshots rang out. A bullet went through his daughter’s window and room, without hitting anyone.

Robledo jumped a fence to get in through the back door. Out front he found an older woman in the street who had been wounded while driving by. She appeared to have fallen out of her car, which kept rolling without her, he said.

“I went out to see because the lady was just lying in the road, and to figure just what the heck was going on,” Robledo said. He and others began to administer first aid.

Neighbors directed an arriving police officer toward the suspect.

“We were telling (the officer), ‘He’s down there.’ … The cop just went straight into action,” Robledo said.

Robledo’s own family car was perforated with bullets.

“We’ve been doing yard work all last week. I just thank God that nobody was outside in front,” he said.

“Obviously, elderly people — he didn’t have no sympathy for them. Who’s to say he would have sympathy for a little kid,” he said.

Middle school teacher Nick Akins, whose home is on a street that police locked down, described the neighborhood as a mostly great place to live, with a mix of homes, short-term rental apartments and churches.

“It’s not like the roughest area in town, but it can be,” he said. “We have great neighbors and rentals, people who come and go. We don’t always know everyone.”

Seeing Farmington in the national spotlight for yet another mass shooting, particularly one that occurred on his street, was surreal for him.

“You never think it’s going to happen here and all of a sudden, in a tiny little town it comes here,” Akins said.

Hebbe said he was “unbelievably proud” of officers’ response given the threat of the suspect, who was moving around, and the chaotic scene. Authorities received at least nine calls to dispatch “putting the information all over the place, where the suspect was,” he said.

The Sheriff’s Office, the Farmington Police Department and state police all responded. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives tweeted that agents from Phoenix were headed to Farmington to assist in the investigation.

Farmington police planned to hold a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

“Today, gun violence took the lives of our elders, wounded two police officers, and paralyzed Farmington’s small community in fear,” U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, a Democrat, whose district includes the area, said on Facebook. “I praise the heroes who drove to danger to stop the violence. I pray for the quick recovery of the wounded and for the families of those we lost.”

“Our beautiful Nuevo Mexico is not immune to the mass shootings that occur across the country — Every. Single. Day,” the message said.

In recent years, cafes and breweries have cropped up downtown Farmington alongside decades-old businesses that trade in Native American crafts from silver jewelry to wool weavings.

Last month Farmington police shot and killed a man at his front door after they went to the wrong address while responding to a domestic violence call.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Life-Threatening Meals: Restaurants Would Identify Food Allergens for Diners Under This Proposed Law

DON'T MISS

Iran Threatens to Strike US Bases in Region if Military Conflict Arises

DON'T MISS

Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades

DON'T MISS

Fresno Measure C Transportation Tax Talks Continue Amid Renewal Uncertainty

DON'T MISS

Judge Bars Trump Administration From Detaining Mahmoud Khalil

DON'T MISS

Is a Waxed Apple ‘Ultra-Processed?’ CA Bill Could Trigger a Lawsuit Barrage

DON'T MISS

Edmunds: These Five Vehicles Are Hidden Automotive Gems

DON'T MISS

GM to Invest $4 Billion to Shift Some Production From Mexico to the US

DON'T MISS

How Your Air Conditioner Can Help the Power Grid, Rather Than Overloading It

DON'T MISS

Hundreds of Laid-off CDC Employees Are Being Reinstated

UP NEXT

LA Police Swiftly Enforce Curfew as Protests Against Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Continue

UP NEXT

Chowchilla Officer Arrested in Sanger on Kidnapping and Assault Charges

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Freddie Aviles

UP NEXT

Fresno Inmate Charged in 2022 Killing More Than Three Years After Crime

UP NEXT

Fresno Police Arrest Woman Wanted in 2023 Homicide, One Still at-Large

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Sergio Castro Quezada

UP NEXT

Riot Police, Anti-ICE Protesters Square Off in Los Angeles After Raids

UP NEXT

Proud Boys Convicted in Jan. 6 Attack Sue Government on Claims of ‘Political Persecution’

UP NEXT

Tulare County Gang Member Convicted of Trying to a Murder Police Officer

UP NEXT

Feds Indict SoCal Hospice CEO for Medicare Fraud in Fresno and Kern Counties

Fresno County Wildfire Threatens Thousands of Acres. Evacuation Orders, Warnings Issued

4 hours ago

Fresno Fire’s Helmet Cam Catches Blaze Raging on House, Occupants Escape Safely

4 hours ago

Derek Carr Says Fresno Is Home, as City Honors Bulldog Great

4 hours ago

Fresno Councilmember Warns of Possible ICE Raid at Popular Outdoor Market

5 hours ago

Americans Split on Trump’s Use of Military in Immigration Protests, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

5 hours ago

Clovis Police Still Searching for Missing At-Risk Man

6 hours ago

Fresno Unified Spends Thousands to Reprint Diplomas With Misty Her’s New Title

6 hours ago

Another Dozen Migrants Are Transferred to Guantánamo

6 hours ago

Former California Corrections Sergeant Indicted on Child Porn Charges

6 hours ago

Israel Could Strike Iran as Soon as Sunday, WSJ Reports

6 hours ago

Trump Can Keep National Guard Deployed to Los Angeles for Now, Appeals Court Rules

(Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Thursday allowed President Donald Trump to maintain his deployment of National Guard troops in Los...

32 seconds ago

Law enforcement officers stand guard outside MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), during a protest against federal immigration sweeps, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 12, 2025. (Reuters/David Swanson)
32 seconds ago

Trump Can Keep National Guard Deployed to Los Angeles for Now, Appeals Court Rules

Law enforcement officers guard Los Angeles City Hall during a protest against federal immigration sweeps, in Los Angeles, California, U.S. June 12, 2025. (Reuters/David Ryder)
2 hours ago

Judge Temporarily Bars Trump From Deploying National Guard Troops in Los Angeles

3 hours ago

Israel Attacks Iran’s Capital With Explosions Booming Across Tehran

The Firestone Incident near Highway 198 and Firestone Avenue in Coalinga has grown to 50 acres with a critical rate of spread, prompting evacuation orders for Zone P19, warnings for multiple surrounding zones, and a road closure, according to CalFire. (X/CalFire)
4 hours ago

Fresno County Wildfire Threatens Thousands of Acres. Evacuation Orders, Warnings Issued

A late-night fire heavily damaged a Fresno home on on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, but all six occupants escaped safely with no injuries. (Fresno FD)
4 hours ago

Fresno Fire’s Helmet Cam Catches Blaze Raging on House, Occupants Escape Safely

4 hours ago

Derek Carr Says Fresno Is Home, as City Honors Bulldog Great

5 hours ago

Fresno Councilmember Warns of Possible ICE Raid at Popular Outdoor Market

U.S. Marines stand with their packs and weapons, as protests against federal immigration sweeps continue, in greater Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 9, 2025, in this screen grab taken from a handout video. (DVIDS/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo)
5 hours ago

Americans Split on Trump’s Use of Military in Immigration Protests, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend