Three people are killed after an 18-year-old high school student fired indiscriminately at homes and passersby in their cars, including 98-year-old Gwendolyn Schofield and her 73-year-old daughter Melody Ivie. The third victim, 79-year-old Shirley Voita was also shot in her vehicle; she later died from her injuries at the hospital.
Six additional people were injured, including Police Officer Andreas Stamatiasdas, who was injured as soon as he arrived at the scene, and Police Sergeant Rachel Discenza, who was shot while driving to the scene.
Fortunately, the latter, who had 10 years of experience with the department, was wearing body armor. Four others were hospitalized but have since been released, as are the officers. Five additional people suffered minor injuries such as cuts and scrapes from broken glass, and were treated at the scene.
The incident took place on Monday morning in the New Mexico town of Farmington. Four police officers eventually arrived and fatally shot the suspect, according to the news conference.
According to Kyle Dowdy, the Farmington Deputy Chief, officials are currently working on identifying a motive for the shooting. They have already interviewed the suspect’s family who said they were worried about his mental health. However, it’s unknown whether or not he had been diagnosed with any mental health condition.
The deputy chief added that while the shooter had “minor infractions” as a juvenile, he was not on the police’s radar.
The suspect, Beau Wilson, had just turned 18 last fall and was set to graduate from high school on Tuesday evening. Not long afterward, he purchased one of the weapons that was used in the fatal shooting. Police officials believe the other two weapons used in the incident belonged to family members. One of them was an assault-style rifle, which appears to be a weapon of choice among mass shooters in recent U.S. massacres including the shooting in Uvalde, Texas a year ago and the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.
They are currently investigating how he got possession of guns.
In a statement, Farmington Mayor Nate Duckett said the fatal shooting shook the northwestern town to the core and has robbed families of their loved ones.
According to Police Chief Steve Hebbe, the assailant walked through the quiet neighborhood and randomly fired at three cars and six houses. There were no churches, schools, or individuals targeted, and no link between the suspect and the victims.
As of Tuesday, investigators were still at the scene and haven’t yet located all the shell casings involved in the shooting.
