An early Friday shooting at a University of New Mexico dormitory resulted in the death of a 14-year-old and injuries to a 19-year-old. This incident led to the evacuation of numerous students and a campus-wide search for the suspect, who was later apprehended.
By late Friday afternoon, university officials lifted the shelter-in-place order, even though the active investigation continued. They announced that the main campus in Albuquerque would remain closed, but students could access the dining hall and return to their dormitories while avoiding the area under investigation.
New Mexico State Police Chief Troy Weisler said officers took a male suspect, aged 18, into custody at about 2:30 p.m.
According to John Silva, the chief of the University of New Mexico Police Department, four individuals, including the suspect, were engaged in playing video games inside a dorm room belonging to one of them when the shooting took place.
The 14-year-old was fatally shot and the others fled the room, Weisler said. A 19-year-old male sought treatment at a hospital and said he was shot on campus.
Authorities were investigating why the suspect fired a gun, Weisler said. Police were working with prosecutors to draft charging documents, he said.
Officials issued an initial alert just before 3:30 a.m. that a shooting had taken place. Another alert asking people to shelter in place was sent out just after 6 a.m. Police evacuated parts of the campus.
“We had a student orientation going so there were like 400 kids in dorms, so we wanted to make sure they were safe,” said Lt. Tim Delgado with the University of New Mexico Police Department.
For much of the day, authorities had the area around the student housing complex cordoned off with yellow tape as police vehicles blocked roadways and investigators gathered.
Mikey Beck, who was staying in student housing this week as part of new student orientation, said he heard gunshots overnight and saw what appeared to be an injured person hiding in some bushes. Two other people jumped out of a dorm window and ran, he said.
Beck said he was excited to start his freshman year but the incident was disconcerting.
“It’s really sketchy out here. Just being in Albuquerque is really scary,” he said.
Not far from the dorms, a line of university buses waited for students to board, many of them carrying backpacks and pulling small luggage carts with their belongings. The university was conducting a “staged, tactical evacuation,” spokesperson Cinnamon Blair said in an emailed statement. People were told not to move without direction from campus police.
The university in central Albuquerque has about 23,000 students during the school year. New students like Beck have been visiting as part of scheduled orientations ahead of the fall semester, which begins in about three weeks.
An increased law enforcement presence on and around the campus was planned for coming days, university President Garnett Stokes said in a letter to the campus community.
“We understand this incident may be especially distressing for new students and their families who are here this week for orientation,” Garnett wrote.
Mayor Tim Keller said his thoughts were with the victim’s loved ones and the university community.
“We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of life that occurred today on the University of New Mexico campus,” Keller said in a statement.
New Mexico’s largest city has struggled with violent crime in recent years, particularly among juveniles. District Attorney Sam Bregman, who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor, has called for state lawmakers to do more to address what he describes as a crisis.
The plea for legislative action comes amid violence in New Mexico involving young suspects, including a fatal hit-and-run in Albuquerque and a shooting in Las Cruces in March that killed three and wounded 15 others.
Prosecutors, law enforcement and Republican lawmakers have pressed Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to convene a special legislative session to address the state’s crime problem. Despite voicing her disappointment with the Democratic-controlled Legislature at the end of the last session, the governor has not given recent indications that she will be calling lawmakers back to Santa Fe.
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Brown reported from Billings, Montana. Associated Press writer Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu contributed.
