Farmington murders were New Mexico's first mass shooting of 2023

New Mexico saw its first mass shooting of 2023 on Monday when police say an unidentified 18-year-old shooter shot and killed three people in Farmington. Nationwide, there have been 225 mass shootings this year, according to www.gunviolencearchive.org/.

2022 saw five mass shootings, resulting in 19 injuries and three deaths. Those occurred in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces, and Alamogordo.

While Monday's shooting is the first mass shooting reported this year in New Mexico, it is not the first time San Juan County has been the location of such violence. In 2017, 21-year-old William Atchison opened fire at Aztec High School. Casey Jordan Marquez and Francisco Fernandez, both 17, were killed before Atchison killed himself.

A USA TODAY analysis of Gun Violence Archive statistics from 2022 shows that mass shootings were down by 6.8% over the previous year. In 2021, the United States reported 690 mass shooting events compared to 646 in 2022.

Gun Violence Archive founder Mark Bryant told USA TODAY in 2021 he remains hopeful that the eventual fading of the pandemic and its associated issues will lead to a reduction this year in mass shootings.

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But he added that police departments likely will have to step up their efforts to get the estimated 50 to 100 million illegal guns in the country out of circulation. The gun control measures often touted by President Joe Biden's administration may also come into play, he said. These include measures aimed at keeping guns from people who are a danger to themselves or others — often referred to as Red Flag Laws — and creating a standard for gun storage.

"I started this archive in 2012, and my goal has always been to see that my job is eliminated," said Bryant. "So far, that sadly hasn't happened.”

New Mexico's senior U.S. Senator, Martin Heinrich, praised a bipartisan agreement on new gun safety legislation in June, presenting the compromise as a crucial first step toward reducing gun violence in America.

Heinrich was among 10 Democrats who reached a deal with 10 Republicans in the Senate on a package he said will include resources helping states and tribes implement crisis intervention order laws, also known as "red flag" laws, similar to one passed in New Mexico in 2020. 

The bill is also expected to prohibit people from owning guns if convicted of domestic violence or the subject of a domestic violence restraining order by an unmarried partner. This would close the so-called "boyfriend loophole" in current law forbidding gun ownership to those married to, living with or parent of a child with someone they have abused. 

Damien Willis is a Lead Reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He can be reached at 575-541-5443, dwillis@lcsun-news.com or @DamienWillis on Twitter. Marco della Cava, USA TODAY national correspondent, @marcodellacava, and National Data Solutions Editor Mike Stucka, @mikestucka, also contributed to this report.