The gunman who killed three people and wounded six others while roaming through his northwestern New Mexico neighborhood and apparently firing at random targets was an 18-year-old high school student, authorities said Tuesday.
The attack occurred Monday morning in Farmington, a city of about 50,000 people near the Four Corners, where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado meet.
Witnesses and police say the gunman walked through a neighborhood a short drive from downtown Farmington spraying bullets at cars, homes and passersby until police arrived at the scene and shot and killed him.
San Juan County Sheriff Shane Ferrari said at a news conference Tuesday that four officers fired a total of 16 rounds at the gunman, including one of two officers who were wounded. Authorities identified the gunman Tuesday as Beau Wilson.
Mayor Nate Duckett said Tuesday both wounded law enforcement officers — a local Farmington officer and a state police officer — were treated and released from a hospital.
"At this point it appears to be purely random, that there was no schools, no churches and no individuals targeted,” Police Chief Steve Hebbe said Monday night in a recorded video statement.
Hebbe said the “suspect randomly fired at whatever entered his head to shoot at,” as bullets pierced a half-dozen houses and several cars.
It was “honestly one of the most horrific and difficult days that Farmington has ever had as a community,” he said.
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