A Monday afternoon Shooting in the small New Mexico town of Clovis has resulted in two people dead and four injured. A 16-year-old male teenager is now in custody after attacking people at the public library in the town.

Teenager enters the Clovis library and starts shooting

The incident at the Clovis-Carter Public Library started at around 4:13 PM local time on Monday. As reported by the Eastern New Mexico News, Vanessa Aguirre told them she and her son were in the library at the time the shooting happened. She said the suspect came in, shooting into the air.

Aguirre was lucky as she said it happened so fast, she and her son ran from the library, adding that her purse was still inside the building.

Lisa Baird was also inside the library at the time of the shooting and told the newspaper she was around 20 feet from the teenager as he started shooting. Baird said he told her to run, asking her why she wasn’t running as he was shooting at her.

Speaking to the newspaper via Facebook Messenger, Baird explained that she had been talking with a patron in the library when she first heard a loud bang.

She initially believed it to be a cherry bomb or firecracker, but then she saw the teenager with a handgun, shooting four or five shots into the floor six feet in front of him. She said she dove under the nearest desk to shelter from the gunfire.

According to Baird, soon afterwards police officers entered the building and shouted at the teenager to lie down on the ground before they took him into custody.

The library was surrounded by emergency and law enforcement vehicles, as paramedics rushed to treat the wounded.

Motive for the library shooting is unclear

Clovis Police Chief Douglas Ford said at a press conference on Monday evening that upon receiving reports of the shooting, officers had entered the library building and taken a 16-year-old male into custody after he gave himself up to authorities.

Ford added that the investigation is still in the early stages, so the motive for the shooting is currently unclear. Both people killed in the shooting were female and of the four injured victims, two were male and two female. The ages and identities of all victims will not be released by police until their families have been notified.

According to a report by People, Tom Phelps, Clovis’ interim city manager, told them that initially the victims had been taken to the Plains Regional Medical Center in the town, but three have since been transferred to Lubbock in Texas.

Clovis Mayor David Lansford said the town has been “hit hard” by the incident, but added that as a community they “will get back up.”
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