1 man, 3 teens face murder charges in Las Cruces park shooting
Las Cruces police allege brothers Tomas Rivas, 20, and Nathan Rivas, 17, both of Las Cruces, and two other teen boys were responsible for a shootout that killed three people and wounded 15 Friday night at Young Park in the border city.
The shooting occurred just after 10 p.m. at what police called an "unauthorized car show" with about 200 people at the park off East Lohman Avenue.
Tomas Rivas faces three counts of first-degree murder in the shooting, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed against him. The police affidavit states his brother, Nathan Rivas, has been charged in the incident as well, although the details of those charges are not public. Las Cruces police said Sunday they had arrested and charged two other teen boys following the incident, but did not release their names Monday. All four of the suspects have been charged with murder, police said.
The three people killed in the shooting were 19-year-old Dominick Estrada, 18-year-old Jason Gomez and 16-year-old Andrew Madrid, according to a criminal complaint filed against Tomas Rivas. Fifteen other people were injured, ranging in ages from 16 to 36, Las Cruces police have said.
Seven of those injured were airlifted to El Paso for treatment, Las Cruces fire Chief Michael Daniels said in a news conference Saturday.
Several witnesses told police two groups of people at the park — one of which included the Rivas brothers — who began to argue Friday night, according to the affidavit.
After the groups began to argue, several witnesses saw "both groups produce firearms and start shooting at each other," police wrote in the affidavit. The witnesses told officers they saw both of the Rivas brothers with guns shooting during the incident.
The first 911 call related to the shooting was placed just after 10 p.m. Friday, police wrote.
Investigators allege photos and videos show Nathan Rivas driving in a Mercedes away from the scene, with his brother and another boy. The three drove to an apartment about a mile south of the park, police alleged in the affidavit, and Nathan Rivas then placed a tan bag inside a dumpster on the side of the building.
Police searched the apartment and questioned its resident, who told them Tomas Rivas had arrived at his door at about 11 p.m. Friday appearing "panicked," according to the affidavit. He told police the 20-year-old had arrived wearing a black, red and gray jacket, but that he was wearing only a black shirt when he took Tomas home a few hours later.
Officers found a black, red and gray sweater wrapped in a pillowcase in a trash can in the apartment, the affidavit alleges.
Officers alleged they recovered four black semi-automatic handguns from the apartment property. Dozens of shell casings recovered from the scene matched the 9mm, .40-caliber and .45-caliber guns found at the property, the affidavit says.
Over Saturday and Sunday, Tomas Rivas was booked into Doña Ana County jail and the three teens were booked into the juvenile detention center, police have said. The Rivas brothers were arrested at a mobile home community on a road called Mohican on the north side of the city.
Prosecutors requested Tomas Rivas be held pending trial, and a pre-trial detention hearing will be scheduled in the coming weeks. Prosecutors indicated in a court motion the case against Rivas will be taken to a grand jury.
Tomas Rivas has faced traffic violations in recent years, but he does not have a criminal history in New Mexico, according to an online court records database. Public records indicate he has lived in Las Cruces for years.
Las Cruces police Chief Jeremy Story addressed reporters during a news conference Saturday, saying as the mass shooting gained national attention, some rumors and misinformation related to the incident had flooded social media sites.
Several photos circulated on Facebook showing a young man holding an AR-15, supposedly at Young Park the same evening of the shooting.
Story said officers had interviewed the man and did not believe he was involved in the shooting, saying, "although it's obviously a problem that he's out there with an AR-15 in his hands."
Investigators swept Young Park for evidence Friday night and much of the day Saturday, he said, and only shell casings for handguns were found at the park.
Las Cruces police also warned of scam online fundraisers purporting to benefit victims' families. The agency said in a statement it had identified "several" fake GoFundMe fundraisers, warning the public to vet such sites before donating.
Several vigils were held for the victims of the shooting Sunday, after the park reopened to the public.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Boston Globe
Teen arrested for allegedly vandalizing over 60 cars in Quincy; competency evaluation ordered
It wasn't clear who represented him at arraignment in Quincy District Court, where he was also ordered to undergo an evaluation to determine his competency to stand trial, legal filings show. Around 8 a.m. Saturday, Quincy police went to 133 Commander Shea Blvd. after receiving a report that a car had been vandalized, according to Chief Mark Kennedy. Advertisement After police Some of the cars had scratches or had been 'keyed,' police said. The vehicles affected included a two-week-old BMW, a gray Jeep, and a Mercedes cargo van, police said. Police collected video footage and potential fingerprints from the scenes, Kennedy said. Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report. This story will be updated when more information is released. Travis Andersen can be reached at
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
Reputed Mexican Mafia member charged in killing of L.A. club owner, B-movie actor
One night nearly 15 years ago, two men broke into the Downey home of Hermilio Franco, an actor and nightclub owner. The scene could have been ripped from one of the low-budget, shoot-em-up Mexican films Franco starred in — or the ballads chronicling the drug trade that were sung at his club. The intruders shook Franco and his wife awake. Franco pulled a chrome-plated .45 from under the mattress. Screams and gunshots filled the bedroom. When the shooting stopped, Franco was dead. One of the intruders lay moaning a few feet away, paralyzed by a bullet that struck his spine. The second would-be robber slipped out a back door. The paralyzed assailant was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2014. His companion went unidentified until last week, when Los Angeles County prosecutors charged that Manuel Quintero, a reputed Mexican Mafia member nicknamed 'Snuffy,' was the intruder who got away. Quintero, already in custody on charges of conspiring to murder a rapper who allegedly ran afoul of the Mexican Mafia, pleaded not guilty to charges that he killed Franco while trying to rob him and burglarize his house. Quintero's lawyer, Randy Collins, said his client was innocent of the charges and noted that another man has already been convicted of murdering Franco. 'There was no credible evidence linking Manuel Quintero to these charges more than 15 years ago, and the same is true today,' Collins said in a written statement. If the charges are to be believed, the killing of Franco would represent a stunning betrayal. Quintero had previously dated Franco's daughter, according to a police report — and she was inside the house when her father was shot dead. Born in the western Mexican state of Sinaloa, Franco immigrated to California at 13 and later found work washing dishes, in construction and as a security guard, The Times reported in 2011. After managing small bars in the Florence district, he bought a nightclub in Lynwood that he named El Farallon, Spanish for 'the cliff by the sea.' The club, along with a concert and rodeo venue Franco later acquired in El Monte, was 'an all family business,' his wife testified in 2012. 'I would work wherever I was needed,' she said. 'If I had to wash dishes, I would. If I had to sell sodas or water or fruit, I would do that.' El Farallon became known as a venue for narcorridos, ballads about the triumphs and betrayals of the drug trade. An early performer was Chalino Sanchez, a legendary Sinaloan singer who was gunned down in 1992. Franco also starred in straight-to-DVD films. In 'El Baleado,' 'Chuy Y Mauricio 3: El Chrysler 300,' 'El Corrido del Katch' and 'Una Tumba Para Dos Hermanos,' he played the part of ranchers and drug traffickers avenging the deaths of loved ones. Franco's wife said the movies were more of a 'hobby' than a career. 'Mexican films don't pay much,' she testified at his killer's trial. Franco made enough money to raise his three children in an affluent part of Downey. A Mercedes sedan and Cadillac Escalade were parked in the driveway, and his safe was stuffed with bundles of $100 bills held together with rubber bands, according to a video filmed by police after his death. Franco was dogged by rumors he was in the drug business. His widow testified it wasn't true. 'I was asked if he was involved in anything like that, but I say no,' she said. 'He was a hard-working man.' Around 2:45 a.m. on Nov. 3, 2010, Franco and his wife were shaken awake in their bed by two intruders saying 'foul words,' she testified. One of the men shot Franco, who drew his .45 and fired back, his wife testified. She grabbed a shotgun from a closet and ran out, she said, jumping over the body of a man on the floor. The man was yelling expletives and calling out for 'the other guy,' she recalled. Franco's daughter, Adriana, testified she woke up to the sounds of shots and her father yelling. She ran toward her parents' room and saw a man slip out a back door. She testified she didn't recognize the intruder. Adriana was once in a relationship with Quintero, who grew up in the neighboring city of Paramount, according to a police report reviewed by The Times. In 1999, detectives were tailing Quintero, whom they suspected of operating a methamphetamine lab. When they pulled him over in a blue BMW X5, Adriana Franco was in the passenger seat, the report said. She told the detectives she was Quintero's girlfriend of six years, according to the report. Adriana Franco declined to comment when reached last week by The Times. Quintero served 10 years in prison for manufacturing methamphetamine. After his release, he was implicated in a kidnapping that played out days before Hermilio Franco's death. Facing another drug case, Quintero was trying to get a stake together before he jumped bail and fled to Mexico, a witness testified before a San Diego County grand jury. According to a transcript of the woman's grand jury testimony, Quintero and his associate Larry Trujillo wanted her to obtain $10,000 from a fraudulently accessed bank account. When she failed, she testified, Trujillo tortured her in a San Diego hotel room for several days and cut off her ear, saying he was 'taking it to Snuffy.' The woman escaped less than 24 hours before the intruders jimmied a back door at Franco's home in Downey. The assailant paralyzed by the bullet from Franco's .45 was Trujillo. He rode in an ambulance with a sheriff's deputy, who testified that Trujillo asked in a soft voice if he was going to die. Trujillo said he 'wanted to make things right.' The plan was to rob Franco, he admitted. According to the deputy, Trujillo said he'd broken into the home with someone called 'Spooky,' whose true name he didn't know. Trujillo, paralyzed from the neck down, attended his trial in a gurney. Midway through it, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced in 2014 to 25 years to life. He was granted medical parole two years later and released to a healthcare facility, court records show. Prison authorities revoked his parole after he gave a healthcare worker 'chocolate candy laced with marijuana' and tried to 'enforce prison politics' at the facility, a judge wrote in an order. In 2023, another judge found Trujillo was 'permanently incapacitated' and granted him compassionate release. In 2012, two years after Franco's death, Quintero was arrested in Tijuana and charged with kidnapping the woman in San Diego. He pleaded no contest to false imprisonment and served less than two years in prison. Released in 2014, Quintero stayed out of jail until last month, when a task force of Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and FBI agents arrested him on charges that he put a hit on a Los Angeles rapper who was later slashed and beaten in jail. Last week, Quintero's lawyer asked a judge to release him on bail. In a motion, Collins called the conspiracy case a flimsy one, resting on hearsay and innuendo cobbled together by investigators who heard what they wanted to hear on recorded jail calls. Collins described Quintero, now 49, as a devoted father of two who enjoys playing basketball and video games with his eighth-grader son. According to his lawyer, Quintero is a legitimate businessman who owns a trucking company, manages a restaurant in La Habra and pays his taxes. Collins filed returns that showed Quintero and his wife jointly reported earning $300,000 to $600,000 annually since 2018. According to Collins, Quintero also started a charity that gives school supplies to 'underprivileged inner-city kids.' 'Mr. Quintero has personally spoken to groups of at-risk youth, sharing his time, experience and encouragement which has led to helping many of them find hope and direction,' the lawyer wrote. A judge denied Collins' motion, and Quintero remains detained without bail.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Woman dies and girl, nine, seriously injured after limousine and car collide
A woman has died and a nine-year-old girl is in hospital with serious injuries after a crash involving a limousine and a car. Two men have been arrested in connection with the incident, with six other passengers across both vehicles also injured. The black Mercedes 220E limousine and black Citroen DS3 collided at a crossroad junction between Wellingborough Road and Broughton Road in Pytchley, near Kettering, at about 10.15pm on Tuesday, Northamptonshire Police said. The woman, in her 40s, who was a passenger in the Mercedes, died at the scene. The girl, also a passenger in the vehicle, was taken to Birmingham Children's Hospital, the force said. Another adult and three children who were travelling in the limousine and an adult and child passenger in the Citroen were taken to hospital with minor injuries. A 53-year-old man from Sandy, Bedfordshire, and a 22-year-old man from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, have been arrested and remain in police custody, the force said. Anyone with information or dashcam footage that may have captured the incident should email CollisionAppeals@ or call the force on 101 or the Drivewatch Hotline on 0800 174615, quoting incident number 25000445341.
