Las Cruces Residents On Edge After Second Shooting In Their Neighborhood

Some are on edge in Las Cruces after a second shooting within a year in their neighborhood.

The victim and suspect are only 18 and 20 years old.

A dirt lot between Bex Street and south Valley Drive is where police said the shots were fired after 4 p.m. Monday. The victim, whose name is not being released, is expected to recover, police said.

But a woman who has lived in the area for the past 11 years said, she is worried her neighborhood has taken a turn for the worst.

“I stepped outside to find my driveway full of police, ambulance, fire trucks and the young man was laying on the ground,” the resident, who asked not to be identified, said.

A frightening scene, only a few feet from the woman?s apartment along the 2200 block of Bex Street.

A small blood stain is where the woman said she saw the 18-year-old victim collapse.

“It was just, pretty scary,” she said.

The alleged shooter now charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, Jose Miguel Castaneda, 20, and a group of other men gathered in a dirt lot behind Chilitos Mexican Restaurant Monday, police said. After some kind of altercation, Castaneda fired two shots, with one of them striking the victim in the abdomen, police said.

“It gets you to wonder about the neighborhood,” the woman said.

And the recent shooting was not the first time the woman said she has seen yellow crime scene tape in her neighborhood. On May 1st of last year, a man was shot and killed outside his apartment on Desert Rose, just down the street from Monday?s shooting.

“We’re not exactly sure if this was gang-related,? Dan Trujillo, Spokesman for the Las Cruces Police Department, said. ?One of the people involved in the shooting – witness, suspect, victim, we don’t know – may have been involved in a gang, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s gang-related.”

But the woman said she feels more can be done.

“I feel like the police know where a lot of them are and just don’t bother,? the woman said. ?I don’t feel like they do their job.”

It is the public?s responsibility to help alert police and report any suspicious activity in their neighborhood, Trujillo said.

“Police can’t be in all places at all times, and if we concentrate several units in that one area, next thing you know we’re going to have something else in another part of town,” Trujillo said.

The woman said she cannot help but worry, and plans to move.

“I just want to feel safer,? the woman said. ?With a gun, you never know where the bullet’s gonna go.”

This was not a random shooting, police said. The victim and Castaneda actually know each other, but the extent of their relationship is not known at this time, Trujillo said.

Castaneda is held on a $50,000 cash bond.