A high school student who killed three women in northwestern New Mexico with an indiscriminate spray of gunfire left a cryptic note presaging “the end of the chapter" and wore a bulletproof vest that he discarded before being shot to death by police, authorities said Wednesday.
Police added new details to the profile of the lone gunman and the weaponry he used as he walked through his residential neighborhood before being confronted by officers and fatally shot outside a church. The shooter fired dozens of rounds during the rampage, according to authorities, most from the home he shared with his father.
Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe said in a news conference that 18-year-old Beau Wilson was wearing what appeared to be a modified vest with steel plates and that the note was found in his pocket. Handwritten in green lettering, the message said in part, “if your reading this im the end of the chapter.”
Hebbe said Wilson began shooting with an AR-15 rifle but quickly dropped that into some bushes even though it still held more live ammunition.
The gunman continued firing with two pistols, discarding a .22-caliber gun and then depleting rounds from a 9-mm handgun in the final shootout with police, during which he let off at least 18 rounds.
Slain by the shooter were longtime Farmington residents Gwendolyn Schofield, her 73-year-old daughter, Melody Ivie, and 79-year-old Shirley Voita, police said.
The women were well known in the community, in part through participation in faith-based groups. Ivie ran a preschool for four decades that was attended by several generations of residents.
Those wounded in the attack include Farmington police Sgt. Rachel Discenza and New Mexico State Police Officer Andreas Stamatiadas. The officers were treated at a local hospital and released.
Police are probing Wilson's access to weapons and concerns about his mental health prior, and efforts are underway to subpoena medical and school records that might shed light on any mental issues.
In November, after he turned 18, Wilson legally purchased the assault-style weapon used Monday, according to police. They said believe two of the three weapons he carried were owned by relatives.
Authorities said it appears he shot indiscriminately at vehicles, while bullets also struck seven homes and 11 vehicles.
Additional weapons and ammunition were found at the home he shared with his father, but Hebbe said he did not appear to have organized those before he left the house.
“He planned to use the three weapons he had,” Hebbe said, “and he went outside and he did just that.”
The shooting was noted Tuesday night during an otherwise exuberant graduation ceremony for 374 students on the Farmington High School football field, where speakers talked of resilience and hope.
Principal Rocky Torres noted that there was an empty chair with a bouquet of white roses on it at the back of the student rows in recognition of “our fellow graduates, family members and friends that cannot be here with us tonight.” He led a moment of silence.
