Las Cruces Crime Alerts

Urgent Alert for Las Cruces & Doña Ana County drivers: Sheriff’s Office sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols run through all of April, starting...

LCPD targets experienced officers with up to $35K incentives to strengthen the force:

• $10K on hire, after field training, 1-year probation
• $5K...

Public Safety Alert: Fernando Elias Vasquez, 20, faces felony aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, false imprisonment, and more after March...

• State wraps Day 3 testimony in Josiah Ontiveros' murder trial for March 2025 Young Park shooting that killed 3 teens, injured 14.
• Cell videos show...

Park Assaults and Shootings

• 🔥 La Llorona Park Confrontation: Mia Belmontez, 30, faces four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon...

Critical alert for Las Cruces families: New data exposes 833 shootings adjacent to NM schools over 10 years, with 526 deaths—averaging over once a...

Trend alert: Real shootings and fake guns are making local parks riskier.

• Salopek Park deadly shootout (Sept 2025): Planned gun robbery killed...

Hopeful step against gun violence in Las Cruces area:

• NIBIN machines now installed in Doña Ana County for real-time ballistic leads from shell...

Petunia Lane Youth Shooting

• 🔥 13-Year-Old Shoots Friend: A 13-year-old boy was arrested after shooting another 13-year-old in the back of the...

Joel Arciniega-Saenz confessed to Las Cruces detectives about decapitating a man at Apodaca Park with a small knife, then 'playing soccer' with the...

• Victim status: 13-year-old boy shot in the back of his head inside a home on the 2900 block of Petunia Lane, airlifted to UMC El Paso in critical...

Key developments on potential public safety boost:

• CBP proposes new station in Las Cruces city limits, outlining sites in letter to City Manager...

One year post-mass shooting: 3 teens killed, 15 injured at unsanctioned car show. Minimal changes despite outcry: park rangers added (limited powers),...

Critical incident on 2900 block Petunia Lane Monday night (~10:30 p.m.): 13-year-old boy shot in back of head by friend, airlifted to UMC El Paso in...

Violent domestic incident at Hotel Encanto: 23-year-old Javier Francisco Chavez Jr. pinned his girlfriend, threatened her, then applied a vascular...

Federal escalation in Doña Ana County assault case:

• May 22, 2023: Agent Eduardo Prat, 40, allegedly strangled handcuffed detainee during duties.
  -...

Safety Alert near Picacho Ave/8th St:

• Carlos Hernandez, 19, fired shots into residence with five occupants at 1:25am March 28; no injuries.
• Police...

• Free gun locks distributed to over 88,746 people since Sept 2023; request via online form, call 1-833-796-8773, or text 66364.
• ERFPO law (2020)...

Three-year mark of 17-year-old Benjamin Archuleta's fatal shooting on I-25 mile marker 8:

• Killed just a day before his 18th birthday
• Las Cruces family speaking publicly for the first time
  Residents, stay vigilant on highways amid unresolved violence.

Las Cruces PD has released the identity of the man killed in an officer-involved shooting on Walnut Street.