Shirley Voita, Gwendolyn Schofield, Melody Ivie Death – Obituary: During a news conference held on Tuesday, officials reported that an 18-year-old gunman had opened fire indiscriminately into people’s cars and houses in Farmington, New Mexico on Monday.
Among the victims were a mother and daughter who lost their lives in the tragic incident. According to officials, a gunman was killed after three individuals were fatally shot and two police officers were injured.
Three elderly women, aged between their 70s to over 90, have been reported as the victims who lost their lives. Gwendolyn Schofield, aged 97, along with her daughter Melody Ivie, aged 73, and Shirley Voita, aged 79, have been identified.
According to police, the three individuals were shot while driving through the neighborhood. According to reports, two individuals passed away at the scene of the incident while one succumbed to her injuries later at San Juan Regional Medical Center.
During Tuesday’s briefing, the shooter was identified by the police as Beau Wilson, a student of Farmington High School. According to investigators, the shooting occurred without a known motive or target. According to the police, the suspect was found to have multiple addresses on record and was residing in a residence located in the vicinity where the shooting took place.
According to Deputy Chief Kyle Dowdy of the Farmington Police Department, the gunman used at least three different weapons, including a “AR-style rifle,” and began firing at around 10:56 a.m. near Ute and North Dustin Streets. This information was shared during a news conference. Reports of an active shooter in the area were received by police almost immediately. According to Dowdy, the officers arrived at the scene at 11:02 a.m. and the shooter was pronounced dead by 11:06 a.m.
When questioned by a reporter, Dowdy reported that around 150 rounds had been discovered by the police across the “nearly quarter-mile crime scene.” According to his statement, it remains unclear as to how many individuals were fired upon by the assailant versus law enforcement.
According to police, the shooter legally acquired one of the firearms in November 2022, just a month after he reached the age of 18. According to police, it remains unclear how he acquired the other firearms, but they suspect that he obtained them from his family members.
According to Dowdy, Wilson had committed minor criminal offenses as a juvenile, but nothing that would have caught their attention. According to family members in an interview, the individual in question was reportedly dealing with mental health problems. However, Officer Dowdy advised that it was still early in the investigation and the full details were not yet available.
In a statement released on Monday afternoon, the Farmington Police Department reported that two officers, Rachel Discenza and Andreas Stamatiadas, were shot and are currently in stable condition at a hospital. Discenza is a member of the Farmington Police Department, while Stamatiadas serves with the New Mexico State Police. According to police, Discenza was released from the hospital on Monday night.