Las Cruces, March 23: Three people died and 15 others were injured after an altercation broke out at a park in the desert city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, police said. Police and fire crews arrived at just after 10 pm on Friday onto a chaotic scene at the city's Young Park, where an unauthorised car show had drawn about 200 people, police said during a news conference. Gunshot victims ranging in age from 16 to 36 were treated on the scene or sent to area hospitals.

Between 50 and 60 shell casings — all from handguns — were found scattered across a wide swath of the large park, Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story said, suggesting multiple shooters and multiple weapons within two groups whose “ill will” toward each other police believe led to the shootings. Several others were injured in the crossfire, he said. US Shooting: Teacher and Teenage Student Killed in Shooting at Private Christian School in Wisconsin; Suspect Dead.

Shooting at Young Park in New Mexico

Those who died were two 19-year-old men and a 16-year-old boy. Their names and those of the other victims were not yet being released. Local police were being assisted in their investigation by New Mexico State Police, the Doña Ana County Sheriff's Office, the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Las Cruces Fire Chief Michael Daniels said seven patients were treated at the scene, including two who died, and 11 others were sent to three local hospitals or to University Medical Center of El Paso, the regional trauma centre. By Saturday, seven of the surviving victims were in El Paso, while four others had been treated and released and the four remaining victims' conditions were not known, he said. New York Mass Shooting: 1 Dead, 7 People Injured in Gunfire at Maplewood Park in US.

Authorities continued to solicit videos and other tips from those in attendance as they worked to identify a suspect or suspects who carried out the attack. “This horrendous, senseless act is a stark reminder of the blatant disregard people in New Mexico have for the rule of law and order,” Story said, vowing about the perpetrators to “find each and every one of them, and we will. We will hold them accountable to the criminal justice system.”

Story acknowledged that illegal car shows at Young Park are not an uncommon occurrence and that the police presence has been larger in the past. He said that understaffing within the police department meant that he had “no units available for most of the night” on Friday. Also, the city has purchased new technology for all its parks as part of its real-time crime centre, he said, but it hasn't been installed yet.

In a post to Instagram on Saturday, Las Cruces City Councillor and Mayor Pro Tem Johana Bencomo expressed grief at the tragedy. “Part of me wanted to write that this is something you never really think this is going to happen in your city, but that actually feels deeply untrue,” she wrote. “Honestly now days a tragedy like this feels like a nightmare just waiting to come true at any possible moment, yet also always praying and hoping it never will.”

Las Cruces Mayor Eric Enriquez called upon the community to support the victims, their families and the community in the wake of a “senseless” event. “We need to stand strong. We need to come together,” he said. Las Cruces sits on the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert along the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico, about 70 km north of the US-Mexican border.

Police were still on the scene Saturday and the area around the park was closed to traffic, according to local media reports. “This is a huge crime scene with a lot of moving parts,” Story said. “It will take time to process it thoroughly and reopen everything.” In Santa Fe, the state Senate held a late-night moment of silence as word of the shootings spread.

The shootings cast a pall over efforts by New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the state Legislature to find effective solutions to persistently high crime rates and concerns about gun violence. Lujan Grisham recently signed off on a package of enhanced penalties for vehicle theft, fentanyl trafficking, school-shooting threats — along with a ban on devices that convert guns to automatic weapons. Legislators passed an overhaul of the state's red-flag gun law that can temporarily remove firearms from people who may be a danger, and bolstered funding for addiction and mental health treatment.

But the governor also said this week she was “appalled” by the lack of progress on juvenile justice reforms, as time ran out on a 60-day legislative session on Saturday at noon.

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