Four people, including a suspect, were killed and two police officers were injured Monday in a chaotic shooting in the Four Corners region of New Mexico, authorities said.
Three «civilian victims» were killed, Farmington police said, as well as a suspect who was «confronted and killed at the scene.» Police said the suspect was 18 years old and that he had multiple weapons, Deputy Police Chief Baric Crum said.
Officers responding to 911 calls about the shooting at 10:57 a.m. Monday were met with a «chaotic scene» as the shooter kept shooting at people.
«We have four officers from the Farmington Police Department that confronted the issue,» Crum said. «They were able to stop their actions at that point.»
Crum said there were nine victims in addition to the suspect, including the three people who died. TO A Farmington police officer and a member of the state police were also injured, Farmington police said.
Both were listed as stable at the San Juan Regional Medical Center. The conditions of the others who were injured were not immediately available.
Crum did not publicly identify the suspect. He said Monday that there did not appear to be a second person involved or any other threat to the community.
Authorities urged anyone with information about the shooting to contact police.
Governor Michelle Luján Grisham thanked police for a quick response.
“I am deeply upset by the tragic violence that unfolded in Farmington today. I pray for the families of the victims, the injured and the entire Farmington community in the aftermath of this horrible tragedy,” he said in a statement. “I am also grateful for the quick response from law enforcement. My administration will not stop fighting the epidemic of gun violence from every angle possible.»
Police shut down the Farmington Municipal Schools at 11:15 a.m., authorities said. The order was lifted at 1:05 p.m.
Agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and San Juan County sheriff’s deputies also responded.
Judith McIntosh, 77, said Monday afternoon she was driving home from the supermarket with a friend when she saw a woman lying in the street. She thought it was strange, but she kept driving. Moments later, when she was in a church near her home, three to five shots rang out.
McIntosh said she then saw at least one person lying on the grass on church property.
“We saw the first old lady on the street and we thought she had been hit by a car,” McIntosh said. «And then we went a little further, by the church, and we heard the shots… And then we saw other people who were on the ground and we thought: ‘Oh, my God. What is happening? What is happening? ‘ People are being killed.»
She added: «I’m still very upset.»
McIntosh said there was a flurry of police activity in the area and he was unable to enter his home for hours. When he did, he discovered that a shot had pierced his bedroom window.
«There was a bullet hole in my bedroom window, through the curtains, through the living room, and over the top of my recliner.»
McIntosh said the bullet hit his living room wall.
«If I had been at home, they could have shot me,» he said.
Investigators were concentrating on Dustin Avenue between Ute and Apache streets in Farmington, authorities said.
The city, with a population of just over 46,000it is about 200 miles northwest of Santa Fe, the state capital.
The community, near the famous Four Corners, where the limits of New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona Meet is also close to three major Native American reservations: the Navajo, Mountain Ute, and Southern Ute reservations.
The five members of Congress from New Mexico, Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján and Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández, Melanie Stansbury and Gabe Vasquez, thanked first responders in a joint statement and vowed to combat gun violence through federal legislation. .
“We are devastated by today’s mass shooting in Farmington, New Mexico,” they said. “While we await further updates, we are grateful to our state and local law enforcement officers who responded to the scene, and to our healthcare providers treating the injured. Our hearts go out to the families of the deceased and the injured. «
Monday’s mass shooting comes on the heels of two others in the past nine days. Two people were killed and five others injured in a shooting Saturday night in Yuma, Arizona, police said.
Seven victims, all men, were found with gunshot wounds. Two of them, ages 19 and 20, were taken to Yuma Regional Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead. No suspect was in custody.
A week before that shooting, a gunman killed eight people in a Dallas-area shopping mall.
The 33-year-old shooter, a neo-Nazi sympathizer with an AR-15-style weapon, was killed by an officer who was at the Allen shopping center, authorities said.
The victims included a child and his parents, two elementary school-age sisters, a security guard working to achieve his goals, and an engineer with a new master’s degree.
This is a developing story. Please check for updates.