New video gives glimpse into night of Las Cruces Mass Shooting
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Through an open records request, ABC-7 has obtained new footage from the night of the Las Cruces Mass Shooting.
The shooting took place on March 21st, taking the lives of three teenagers and injuring 15 others.
Four suspects have been arrested and charged with murder in connection to the shooting. 20-year-old Tomas Rivas, 17-year-old Nathan Rivas, 17-year-old Gustavo Dominguez, and 15-year-old Josiah Ontiveros.
Bodycam footage shows the moment that Nathan Rivas was told by Las Cruces Police that he would be charged with 3 counts of murder. "Detective Contreras was going to let us know, tonight you're being charged with three counts of murder, three open counts of murder."
There is also interrogation footage of Ontiveros being told that he's being arrested.
Police told Ontiveros that he was the last person they "picked up" and that he had the "final say". They told him the two brother, Nathan and Thomas, were putting a lot Ontiveros, the youngest of the group.
Ontiveros asks if they have evidence to show, and that he won't speak without a lawyer. Police respond by saying, "You can't take yourself out of it. There's nothing you can say right now, nothing you can say, that will take away the fact that you are going to be one of the people who was shooting a gun in Young Park."
ABC-7 also obtained footage of the first part of the interrogation between Las Cruces Police, the FBI, and Nathan Rivas.
The video shows a relaxed Rivas telling his story to police officers. Rivas has had encounters with police before. He says that at the time of the shooting, he was with his friends and his brother Tomas at a party in El Paso. He shows pictures to the officers as proof.
However, they don't believe that Rivas is telling the truth. About 30 minutes into the video, two FBI investigators come into the room, and the police officers exit. Rivas becomes much more defensive and uncomfortable with the FBI compared to the police. He asks why they are asking the same questions, and says, "I know what you guys are doing. I'm not stupid."
The investigators tell him that this is his chance to tell the truth, and that lying won't make any of the issues any better.
"Just what you're telling us right now, the story you're giving us, is not adding up to the evidence that we have shown you that you were in town at the time of the shooting. People are saying you were there at the time of the shooting. We're going to go into your phone. We're going to get exact locations of where you were. We're going to find out if you were at the park or not."
At the end of the video, police come back into the room and give Rivas advice.
"The worst thing you can do in a situation where we actually have legitimate evidence is lie." They add on by saying, "This is the biggest case since the bowling alley. No one is going to let this go."
Rivas asks if they can turn off the camera, which the officers do and the video ends. ABC-7 has more coverage on the extra body camera footage we have obtained on our website.
