Teen Killed By Stray Bullets In East EP
EL PASO, TX. – 14-year-oldThelma Fierro of El Pasois dead aftergoing to a desert party with friends.
The sheriff’s office says hundreds of people were ata party around 11:30Saturday night in Horizon at 12700 Starduster. Then, someone opened fire. The teen was shot twice. A few of Fierro’sfriends rushed her to Del Sol Medical Center, but she then had to be taken to R.E. Thomason Hospital where shediedSunday morning. Fierro was an Ysleta Independent School District student who would have started her freshman year at Del Valle High School on Monday.
The late night shootingsparked a huge manhunt . ABC-7 was on the scene as federal and local authorities were up against a pitch black desert. Somewhere in the darkness was someone who continued to fire shots at the authorities. Police did not fire back because they couldn’t tell where the shots were coming from.
“Officers were trying to secure the scene, at which time they started taking fire. The officers did not return fire due to the fact that they did not know where the shots were coming from. It was a very tense situation. There were still several hundred people still in the desert area,” says El Paso Sheriff’s spokesman, Eddie Placencia.Investigators say they later found four people in the desertwho were armed with guns. They were detained but not arrested. This isnow a homicide investigation.
The man who owns the property where all this went down spoke withABC-7. He says he sees troubled behavior like this all the time, “but the only problem is that[trespassers] keep leaving all their beer bottles and all their trash out here instead of cleaning up after themselves,” says Phil Barrett. Barrettowns the West Texas Airport where the shooting took place.He says beer bottles on the runway are just the tip of the ice berg.
“We have to sweep them up so we don’t get them in our tires. As far asI’m concerned, they’re trespassing. We got signs on all the fencing around saying No Trespassing, but it doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of difference.” Barrett says he didn’t hear anything on Saturday night. But he says seeing bonfires and hearing gunshots really doesn’t surprise him anymore. “We do hear shots fired out here all the time because they come out to the barren spots out here and shoot all the time.”
Officials with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office say many use the desert to off-road and party. “It has great dunes, a lot of sand so you have a lot of high school kids coming out here and partying,” Placencia added. “If they’re going to party, at least they should clean up after themselves or let us know what’s going on,” Barrett responded.
Since the desert is so dark at night, authorities say they have a hard time seeing what goes on out there.
