The teenage gunman who killed three people and wounded six others in New Mexico appeared to target victims at random as he roamed a neighborhood, using at least three guns – including an AR-15-style rifle – to fire at homes, cars and other targets before police shot him dead, authorities said.
The attack leaves yet another American community “reeling in anguish and disbelief,” Farmington’s mayor said.
“There were no schools, no churches, no individuals targeted,” Police Chief Steve Hebbe said, adding the shooter appeared to fire at what “entered his head.”
Investigators are still piecing together how the attack unfolded over a “wide and complex scene” that spans more than a quarter of a mile, Hebbe said in a video statement.
The shooter strode through the neighborhood in this commercial hub near the Southwest’s Four Corners and “randomly fired at whatever entered his head to shoot at,” including houses and cars, before police arrived and fatally shot him, he said Monday night.
In his arsenal was an AR-15-style rifle – a weapon of choice among US mass shooters in recent, high-profile massacres, including the 2012 Sandy Hook school attack and a shooting in Uvalde, Texas, nearly a year ago that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
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