By Andrew Hay
TAOS, NEW MEXICO (Reuters) – An 18-year-old gunman who randomly killed three people as he roamed through a New Mexico neighborhood this week legally bought the assault-style rifle he used in the shooting spree, authorities said on Tuesday.
The teenager, whose rampage ended when police shot him dead, was identified as Beau Wilson, a high school student in Farmington, the city where Monday’s shooting took place, Police Deputy Chief Kyle Dowdy told a media briefing.
The actions of the suspect “appear to be purely random and had no specific targets or motives that we can identify at this time,” Dowdy said.
Wilson was staying at an address in the neighborhood where the shootings took place but there is nothing to indicate he knew any of the victims, Dowdy said.
Wilson obtained the AR-style rifle legally a month after he turned 18 in October 2022. He is believed to have obtained two other firearms used in the shooting from family members, police said.
When officers responded to emergency calls late on Monday morning, they found the gunman indiscriminately shooting at people in a neighborhood of single-story homes, churches and doctors offices.
Three civilians were killed and six people wounded, including two officers. The shooting spree ended when the gunman was fatally shot outside a church, according to police.
New Mexico has some of the least restrictive gun ownership laws in the country, with no minimum age to possess rifles and shotguns in the state.
New Mexico in general prohibits anyone under age 19 to possess a handgun, according to the Giffords Law Center gun control organization.
(Reporting By Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
