Three dead, 15 injured in shooting at park in New Mexico
Las Cruces Police Department
(LAS CRUCES, N.M.) — Three people were killed and 15 were injured in a shooting at a park in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Friday night, according to police.
The deceased are two 19-year-old men and one 16-year-old boy. The injured range in age from 16 years to 36 years, according to a police statement to ABC News on Saturday.
Police were dispatched to the shooting shortly after 10 p.m. Friday at Young Park, the Las Cruces Police Department said.
“Officers arrived and learned of multiple gunshot victims. Most were transported to local hospitals. Some were taken to University Medical Center of El Paso,” police said.
The names of the dead and injured will not be released at this time, the police department said.
At a press conference Saturday morning, Las Cruces officials said an unsanctioned car show was being held at the park prior to the shooting. There was an altercation between two groups of people that led to an exchange of gunfire.
Police said they have not made any arrests, but are actively following leads.
“Las Cruces police is receiving assistance on this investigation from the FBI, ATF, New Mexico State Police and the Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office,” authorities said.
Young Park and all roadways leading to the park are temporarily closed while investigators conduct their work.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from deporting noncitizens to countries other than their place of origin without due process.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy issued an injunction that bars the Trump administration from deporting any noncitizen to a country not explicitly mentioned in their order or removal without first allowing them to raise concerns about their safety.
“Defendants argue that the United States may send a deportable alien to a country not of their origin, not where an immigration judge has ordered, where they may be immediately tortured and killed, without providing that person any opportunity to tell the deporting authorities that they face grave danger or death because of such a deportation,” Judge Murphy wrote.
“All nine sitting justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Assistant Solicitor General of the United States, Congress, common sense, basic decency, and this Court all disagree.”
The ruling throws a roadblock in the Trump administration’s policy of removing noncitizens to countries like El Salvador, Honduras, or Panama, even if the noncitizens lack an order of removal to those countries.
The Trump administration last month invoked the Alien Enemies Act to deport two planeloads of alleged Venezuelan gang members to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador with little-to-no due process.
Judge Murphy noted that the Trump administration officials “have applied and will continue to apply the alleged policy of removing aliens to third countries without notice and an opportunity to be heard on fear-based claims — in other words, without due process.”
He said his order prevents the irreparable harm of noncitizens being sent to countries where they might face persecution, torture, or death without having the chance to challenge their removal in court.
“The irreparable harm factor likewise weighs in Plaintiffs’ favor. Here, the threatened harm is clear and simple: persecution, torture, and death. It is hard to imagine harm more irreparable,” he wrote.
Judge Murphy’s order requires that the Trump administration provide noncitizens written notice before they are removed to a third country, as well as a “meaningful opportunity” to raise concerns about their safety, including providing at least 15 days to reopen their immigration proceedings.
He also certified a class — meaning the order applies not only to the plaintiffs in the case, but also any noncitizen with a final order of removal.
Separately, Judge Murphy is considering whether the Trump administration violated his temporary order when it removed at least three men to El Salvador without allowing them to raise concerns about their safety. He is still considering that issue.
(MADISON, WI) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court has suspended Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan after she was arrested by the FBI and charged last week for allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant evade arrest, an order from the court shows.
“The court has learned that Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah C. Dugan has been charged with two federal criminal offenses, one of which is a felony and one of which is a misdemeanor,” a two-page order from the court filed Tuesday stated.
“This court is charged in the Wisconsin Constitution with exercising superintending and administrative authority over the courts of this state. In the exercise of that constitutional authority and in order to uphold the public’s confidence in the courts of this state during the pendency of the criminal proceeding against Judge Dugan, we conclude, on our own motion, that it is in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties.”
Dugan was charged with two criminal counts of “obstructing and impeding a proceeding before a department or agency of the United States” and “concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest,” according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court said Dugan is “temporarily prohibited from exercising the powers of a circuit court judge in the State of Wisconsin,” effective Tuesday until further order from the court.
Prior to the order, a Milwaukee County official said this week that starting Monday, a reserve judge will cover Dugan’s cases.
The judge was arrested on Friday over allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant “evade arrest” the week prior, according to FBI Director Kash Patel, who claimed on social media that Dugan “intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse.”
U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement that two FBI agents arrested Dugan “for allegedly helping an illegal alien avoid arrest” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Duegan appeared in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin on Friday on the two charges but did not enter a plea. She was released on her own recognizance.
Her attorney, former United States Attorney Steven Biskupic, said the judge will “defend herself vigorously and looks forward to being exonerated.”
“Judge Hannah C. Dugan has committed herself to the rule of law and the principles of due process for her entire career as a lawyer and a judge,” Biskupic said in a statement on Friday.
If convicted on the charges, Dugan could face up to six years in prison.
Her case stems from the arrest of an undocumented immigrant — Eduardo Flores-Ruiz — on April 18, county court records show. Flores-Ruiz was set to appear in court that day before Dugan for a pretrial conference in an ongoing case where he has been charged with three misdemeanor counts of battery/domestic abuse.
Upon learning ICE officers were present in court to arrest Flores-Ruiz, Dugan allegedly became “visibly angry” and confronted one of the officers, according to the federal complaint.
Multiple witnesses cited in the complaint later allegedly said Dugan returned to her courtroom after directing members of the arrest team to the office of the court’s chief judge, according to the complaint.
A DEA agent saw Flores-Ruiz and his attorney in the public hallway of the courthouse and he appeared to be making efforts to evade arrest, the complaint stated. After he was encountered by FBI and DEA agents outside the building, Flores-Ruiz “turned around and sprinted down the street” before he was ultimately apprehended, according to the complaint.
(AUSTIN) — Police in Texas said they are looking for a missing 9-year-old girl who hasn’t been seen in over seven years whose disappearance was uncovered after the child’s mother was arrested for allegedly locking her 7-year-old daughter in a closet for weeks.
Virginia Marie Gonzales, 33, of Austin, was arrested on a charge of injury to a child after the 7-year-old girl was found “locked in a closet and starving” last month, according to Austin Detective Russell Constable.
The girl’s grandmother called police after she found the child “malnourished, soiled and barricaded in a bedroom closet” on April 3, according to the arrest warrant affidavit. The grandmother had gone to the apartment after Gonzales was arrested for marijuana possession, according to the affidavit.
Gonzales allegedly barricaded her child in the closet for a month, feeding her a hot dog or corn dog in the morning and evening and half a cup of water daily, according to the affidavit.
The girl was immediately taken to a local hospital for medical treatment, where she was found to weigh 29 pounds and had signs of malnourishment, according to the affidavit. She is currently recovering, Constable said during a press briefing Tuesday, calling the case “emotionally difficult.”
There were six other children in the home between the ages of 2 and 14 who appeared to be physically healthy, police said. Though during the investigation, authorities learned that there was an eighth child, Ava Marie Gonzales, who was not inside the home and had not been seen by family or friends since December 2017, when she was 2 and in the custody of her mother, police said.
“Austin Police Department’s missing person detectives are seriously concerned about Ava’s welfare, given the circumstances in which Ava’s 7-year-old sibling was found,” Constable said.
ABC News reached out to Gonzales’ attorney and did not immediately receive a response. She is being held in the Travis County Correctional Complex on $75,000 bond and has a court hearing scheduled next week, online jail and court records show.
Ava has not been reported missing by her mother or anyone else, Constable said.
Constable said the girl’s mother has “provided conflicting information to many different family members” about Ava’s whereabouts, and police are asking for anyone who may have seen her or knows where she is to come forward.
Police have not identified her father, he said.
Constable said Gonzales has provided police some information regarding her missing child that they are trying to corroborate.
“We’re hoping to get some more information and try to figure out where she is,” he said.
As far as Austin police are aware, none of Gonzales’ children are enrolled in school, Constable said.
Police released an age-progressed photo of Ava, who has brown hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information is asked to email ava@austintexas.gov or can anonymously call Crime Stoppers at 512-572-8477.
ABC News’ Amanda Morris contributed to this report.
