Las Cruces Young Park shooting suspects, 20 & 17 year old arrested, ids of 3 killed named. Tomas Rivas Las Cruces 20 year old gunman along with fatal victims identified: Andrew Madrid, 16; Jason Gomez, 18; and Dominick Estrada, 19 amid criticism of New Mexico conceal and carry gun laws during unsanctioned car meet.
Las Cruces, New Mexico police have arrested two individuals in connection with the deadly mass shooting at Young Park that left 3 dead during an unsanctioned car meet on Friday night.
Authorities in a news release confirmed the arrests of 20-year-old Tomas Rivas and a 17-year-old male suspect on Saturday evening.
Both individuals have been charged with three open counts of murder, with additional charges expected as the investigation progresses, KFOX14 reported.
Deadly unsanctioned car meet at Young Park, Las Cruces
Rivas will be booked into the Dona Ana County Detention Center where he will initially be held without bond.
The juvenile will be remanded to the juvenile detention facility.
The victims who died in Friday’s shooting have been identified as Andrew Madrid, 16; Jason Gomez, 18; and Dominick Estrada, 19. Madrid and Gomez died on the scene. Estrada was taken to MountainView Regional Medical Center, where he died from his injuries.
Madrid was a sophomore at Centennial High School, where he was a member of the junior varsity baseball team, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.
The other 15 victims, whose ages range from 16-36, were injured in the shooting. Of the 15 victims, nine are male and six are female. Up to 200 people had attended the un-sanctioned car meet up where revelers show off modified cars. The event is believed to happen monthly.
The shooting occurred shortly after 10 p.m. Friday at the parking lot of Young Park, 850 S. Walnut St in Las Cruces, shortly after rival groups began arguing, leading to gunfire and many caught in crossfire and injured. It remained unclear if the fatalities were intentionally shot or hit unintentionally struck by crossfire.
🚨#BREAKING Three teens—two 19-year-olds and a 16-year-old—were killed, and 15 others, aged 16 to 36, were injured in a mass shooting at Young Park in Las Cruces, NM, on March 21, 2025.
Police arrested 20-year-old Tomas Rivas and a 17-year-old on March 23, charging them with… pic.twitter.com/oLqVp5fPCW
— Semper Invictus ™ (@SemperXInvictus) March 23, 2025
Las Cruces Young Park plagued with crime
Up to 50-60 shell casings were found at the scene the Las Cruces Police Dept said during a press conference, Saturday morning.
‘There was already craziness going on before the shooting, with people sticking guns out the window and driving and doing doughnuts,’ Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story said in an interview with NBC News on Friday.
Young Park has been ‘troubled with crime’ in recent years, with unsanctioned car shows becoming ‘an issue’ in the area, according to Story.
Angel Legaspy, 20, who had attended the meet, described his parked car being struck by a hail of bullets during the incident.
New Mexico conceal and carry gun laws
‘They just started shooting and they just started running around everybody,’ he told the New York Times, adding it was ‘like all over the place’.
Law enforcement partners are continuing their investigation and are actively following multiple leads.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement that she will call back the state legislature for a special session to address what she called ‘New Mexico’s crime crisis.’ The state needs to do more to find solutions to juvenile crime, gun violence and their root causes, the governor said according to the El Paso Times.
The tragedy led to criticism of New Mexico’s permissive conceal carry weapons handguns laws where it is legal to carry a loaded weapon as long as it is not concealed. However, it is not legal to carry any firearm if one isn’t in possession of a valid license.
New Mexico further permits the carrying of more than one firearm. However, only one firearm may be concealed on one’s own person at a time. This restriction does not apply to firearms carried in your vehicles, on or off your person according to the state law. The state provision however does not allow the carrying of any firearm in schools, universities, preschools, courts (without the presiding judge’s consent), and federal buildings.
And then there were these comments on the web that caught this author’s attention. See what you think?
‘20,17 neither are able to buy handguns legally and neither can have a concealed carry permit. So, Governor, what NEW law would have prevented this?’
‘It’s not the guns its the people…. Why is that not the issue?’
