A violent event occurred Friday afternoon in Dona Ana County at Arlington, where a police officer and a motorist were shot during a traffic stop when a passenger stepped out of a vehicle and started firing. Authorities were able to chase down the attackers that quickly drove south on Interstate 25.

Nonetheless, he stopped at a rest stop near Radium Springs, where one of the subjects on the vehicle carjacked a parked Chevrolet Cruze.  Police officers spotted the vehicle, finally blocked their way and took three suspects into custody, which are now under investigation. The initial shooting took place in the village of Hatch, a location about 40 miles northwest of Las Cruces, but according to the Police Department the owner of the carjacked Chevrolet was also shot.

Once authorities spotted the Cruze they pursued it, eventually blocking their way what led the suspect crash the vehicle into a pile of wood. The suspect surrender and authorities noticed he had a gunshot wound in the legs. Image Credit: WSJ
Once authorities spotted the Cruze, they pursued it, eventually blocking their way what led the suspect crash the vehicle into a pile of wood. The suspect surrender and officials noticed he had a gunshot wound in the legs. Image Credit: WSJ

The route of the attackers

Meanwhile, other police officers’ team tracked down the other two suspects when a citizen called 911 to report the presence of two men “acting suspicious” in the area. The sheriff’s deputies found the two suspects and took them into custody.

Authorities decided not to reveal the identity of the suspects yet, although a journal in Ohio reported Saturday that two citizens, James Nelson II and Jesse Hanes, have been taken into custody for shooting a man in Ohio but are also believe to be involved in the New Mexico’s shooting.

The victims

Jose Chavez, a 33 years old police officer died at University Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, as the result of the gunshot he received in the neck. Chavez had been a Hatch Officer for two years and left a wife and two children.

The other person wounded was an unidentified motorist who was also taken to the hospital, although authorities did not reveal any further information about his health condition. This driver seemed to be the owner of the Chevrolet Cruze vehicle that was carjacked.

With time, carjacking became a criminal activity on its own since thieves could steal personal belongings and the car as a valuable object. Image Credit: USA News
With time, carjacking became a criminal activity on its own since thieves could steal personal belongings and the car as a valuable object. Image Credit: USA News

About Carjackings and shootings

Carjacking has been a prevalent crime in the media since the mid-1980s since initially the crime aimed trucks with high valuable loads and the suspect would abduct the vehicle only to steal the load rather than the car itself.

However, carjackings were typically depicted as unprovoked violent attacks that did not involve actual shootings, but weapons were used in 74 percent of carjacking occurrences at least as an intimidation instrument against the victims, 45 percent firearms, 11 percent knives and 18 percent some other type of weapon. The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) conducts a survey regularly to keep updated statistics about carjackings, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics is also part of this work.  Although data available online only reaches the period from the mid-1990s to 2002, some of the conclusions are relevant to understand the carjacking phenomena.

Among these findings, we can state that more than 90 percent of carjackers are male, and about 93 percent of the crimes occur in cities and suburbs. Until 2000, about 38,000 carjackings occurred each year and considering the link between the carjackings and shootings the survey found that about 15 murders were related to carjackings, which statistically is a small percent of homicides linked to this particular crime.

Source: ABC News