3 More Teens Arrested In Las Cruces High School Shooting Incident
Las Cruces Police have arrested and charged three more teens – including the boy who fired a handgun – for their involvement in the Sept. 7 affray at Las Cruces High School.
Lucas Verdugo, 17, and 16-year-olds Pedro Carrillo and Dominic Hernandez have been arrested. Verdugo, arrested Monday, is charged with negligent use of – discharging – a firearm, unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon on school premises, unlawful carrying of a handgun by a person under age 19, conspiracy and public affray.
Carrillo and Hernandez, both arrested Friday evening, are each charged with unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon on school premises and conspiracy. Carrillo also is charged with public affray. Verdugo and Carrillo are being held at the juvenile section of the Dona Ana County Detention Center . Hernandez was turned over to his parents.
On Sept. 8 Las Cruces Police charged two other teenagers – 16-year-olds Victor Orquiz and DeAngelo Chaparro – for their involvement in the affray. Orquiz was charged with possession of a controlled substance – cocaine, unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon on school premises, conspiracy to carry a firearm on school premises and public affray. Chaparro was given a juvenile Class III citation charging him with minor allowing to be served alcohol and public affray.
Las Cruces Police detectives learned that sometime before 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 7, a fight broke out between several teenagers following a high school volleyball match at Las Cruces High School . At some point during the fight, Carrillo allegedly ordered Verdugo to get the handgun that was in a nearby backpack. Verdugo allegedly retrieved the black handgun and fired one round.
No one was struck by the gunfire and the scuffle between several people resulted in relatively minor injuries. Shortly after the shot was fired Verdugo, Carrillo, Chaparro and Hernandez jumped into a red Chevy Tahoe driven by Orquiz and left the area.
