3 killed and 15 hurt in a shooting at a park in New Mexico’s Las Cruces

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Three people were fatally shot, and 15 others were hurt, after an altercation broke out at a park in the desert city of Las Cruces, police said Saturday.

Police and fire crews arrived at just after 10 p.m. Friday to a chaotic scene at Young Park, where an unauthorized car show had drawn about 200 people, police said in a news conference. Gunshot victims ranging in age from 16 to 36 were treated there or taken to hospitals.

Between 50 and 60 handgun casings were scattered across a wide swath of the park, Police Chief Jeremy Story said, suggesting multiple shooters and multiple weapons among two groups whose “ill will” toward each other are believed to have led to the shootings. Several others were injured in the crossfire, he said.

The dead were identified only as a 16-year-old boy and two men, ages 18 and 19, police said. 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 11 patients were sent to three local hospitals or to University Medical Center of El Paso, the regional trauma center. As of Saturday, he said, seven victims were in El Paso, four had been treated and released and the conditions of the other four were not known.

Authorities are seeking video from the park and tips from those present as they work to identify a suspect or suspects.

“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. He vowed that authorities will find everyone responsible and said, “We will hold them accountable to the criminal justice system.”

Story acknowledged that illegal car shows at Young Park are not uncommon and that the police presence has been larger in the past. Understaffing on Friday, he added, meant that he had “no units available for most of the night.”

In an Instagram post Saturday, City Councilor and Mayor Pro Tem Johana Bencomo expressed grief over the shootings.

“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 said. “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.”

Mayor Eric Enriquez called for people to support the victims, their families and the community after the “senseless” event.

“We need to stand strong. We need to come together,” he said.

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 the New Mexican capital, 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 Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the state Legislature to find effective solutions to persistently high crime rates and concerns about gun violence.

Lujan Grisham said she was gripped by sorrow for victims' relatives as well as anger and disappointment that more public safety bills did not make it to her desk before the legislative session closed at noon Saturday.

“We don't have sufficient tools, we are not bringing accountability to these communities,” she said at a news conference. “I'm so sorry for the individuals whose lives are forever changed, for a community that will be shattered.”

Lujan Grisham recently signed off on a package of enhanced penalties for vehicle theft, fentanyl trafficking and 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, under which firearms may be temporarily removed from people who may pose a danger, and bolstered funding for addiction and mental health treatment.

But the governor excoriated legislators for a lack of progress on juvenile justice reforms and highlighted the apparent large number of weapons used in the Las Cruces shootings.

“These tragedies have to end,” she said. “The amount of guns that find their ways into public parks and schools and churches and grocery stores and parties and cars must end.”

Las Cruces sits on the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert along the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico, about 40 miles (70 kilometers) from the U.S.-Mexico border.

This story has been updated to correct the last name of the police chief to Story, not Strong.

Smyth reported from Columbus, Ohio.

Las Cruces police investigate Friday night's fatal shooting that occurred at Young Park in Las Cruces, N.M., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Chancey Bush/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Evidence markers are shown in the parking lot at Young Park after Friday night's fatal shooting in Las Cruces, N.M., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Chancey Bush/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Rosana Colorbio, a resident at the Woodcrest Apartments, talks with the Journal in Las Cruces, N.M., on Saturday, March 22, 2025, as the apartments are located directly across the street from Young Park after Friday night's fatal shooting. (Chancey Bush/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Crime scene tape blocks off Young Park after Friday night's fatal shooting in Las Cruces, N.M., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Chancey Bush/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Crime scene technicians investigate the parking lot at Young Park after Friday night's fatal shooting in Las Cruces, N.M., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Chancey Bush/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Las Cruces Mayor Eric Enriquez opens a news conference on Saturday, March 22, 2025, by calling for the community to come together after a deadly mass shooting at Young Park in Las Cruces, N.M. (Justin Garcia/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremey Story speaks at a news conference on March 22, 2025 a day after a mass shooting at Young Park in Las Cruces, N.M. (Justin Garcia/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Crime scene technicians look over the Young Park parking lot after a mass shooting overnight, Saturday, March 22, 2025 in Las Cruces, N.M. (Justin Garcia/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)