In the quiet expanse of Young Park, Las Cruces, New Mexico, a night meant for the rumble of engines and the gleam of polished chrome turned into a scene of unimaginable tragedy. On March 21, 2025, an unsanctioned car show became the backdrop for a violent clash that left three young lives extinguished and a community grappling with grief and outrage. The Las Cruces Police Department confirmed that the altercation, born from simmering tensions between two groups, erupted into a mass shooting just after 10:10 p.m., shattering the stillness with the crack of gunfire. By the time the chaos subsided, three males—19-year-old Dominick Angel Estrada, an 18-year-old whose name has not yet been released, and 16-year-old Andrew Madrid—lay dead, while 15 others bore the wounds of a night gone horribly wrong.
The scope of the violence was staggering. Around 200 people had gathered at the park, drawn by the allure of an informal car enthusiast meet-up, when the situation spiraled out of control. The parking lot became the epicenter of the gunfire, though evidence of the mayhem—50 to 60 shell casings from handguns—littered the park grounds. The Las Cruces Fire Department arrived to a grim scene: two victims were already beyond saving, pronounced dead where they fell. Seven others received immediate treatment at the site, while four were rushed to local hospitals. One critically injured individual was airlifted to El Paso, Texas, in a desperate bid for survival. As of the following morning, seven of the wounded had been transferred to El Paso medical facilities, four had been treated and released, and the conditions of the remaining four hung in a tense balance.
Among the injured was Jacob Zuniga, one of the 15 victims whose ages spanned from 16 to 36, a range that underscored the indiscriminate reach of the violence. Police worked swiftly to dispel rumors and clarify facts amid the confusion. Gabriel Rickman, briefly a person of interest, was interviewed and cleared of any involvement. A widely circulated social media image of a teenager wielding an AR-style rifle also prompted a firm response from authorities: ballistic analysis confirmed that no such weapon was used in the attack. The shell casings recovered told a different story—one of handguns wielded with deadly intent.
In a somber press conference on Saturday morning, LCPD Chief Jeremy Story laid bare the challenges facing his department and the city. He described the shooting as the culmination of “ill will” between the two groups, a feud that had festered long before the car show began. Story minced no words in his assessment of the broader context, decrying a “blatant disregard” for law and order in New Mexico and a troubling lack of accountability. Staffing shortages plagued his force, with the department operating below its budgeted strength of 220 officers. Three newly approved Park Rangers remained in training, and a much-touted Real Time Crime Center, intended to bolster security with advanced technology, sat dormant despite funding from both city and state coffers.
The tragedy drew a sharp response from Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, who pointed to a 46% surge in violent crime in Las Cruces over the past year. She linked the shooting to a broader failure of the state legislature, noting that it adjourned on the same day without passing measures to curb juvenile crime or restrict assault weapons. The governor’s words carried the weight of recent wounds; the death of Officer Jonah Hernandez in Las Cruces the previous year still lingered in the public memory, a stark precursor to this latest loss.
Young Park, once a community hub, has become a recurring trouble spot in recent years. Chief Story acknowledged the city’s efforts to secure the area—gates installed to lock the park at 11 p.m. each night, plans for security upgrades tied to the stalled crime center—but the measures fell short on this fateful evening. Officers, stretched thin, were absent for much of the night, leaving the event unpoliced until the first desperate calls came in. Unsanctioned car shows, Story explained, have long posed a challenge, drawing crowds and, increasingly, conflict.
As investigators comb the evidence and chase leads, no arrests have been made. The police have called on witnesses to share any photos or videos from the night, providing a secure upload site to aid the effort. For those seeking answers about loved ones, a hotline stands ready. In Las Cruces, a city now mourning its dead and tending to its wounded, the echoes of gunfire have given way to a deeper question: how to heal a community fractured by violence and left searching for justice.