First Young Park shooting murder trial opens in Las Cruces

LAS CRUCES – The murder trial for the first of four defendants in last year’s shooting at a car meet in Young Park opened Monday with the selection of a jury and opening statements from the prosecution and defense.

Tomas Rivas, 21, faces three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder resulting in death. The charges stem from the March 21, 2025 shooting that killed Dominick Estrada, 19; Andrew “AJ” Madrid, 16; and Jason Gomez, 17; and wounded over a dozen others. 

The other defendants, all being tried separately, are Nathan Rivas, 18, who is Tomas Rivas’ younger brother; Gustavo Dominguez, 18; and Josiah Ontiveros, 16.

A crowd had gathered in the park’s parking lot to watch cars spin donuts and grind tires into smoke when gunfire erupted and chaos ensued as people screamed, ran for cover and assisted people who had been hit by bullets. The events were extensively documented in bystander videos shot with mobile phones, documenting how a festive atmosphere turned on a dime into terror. It was the city’s worst mass casualty event since 1990.

Rivas, who is being held in custody through his trial, was present in court with neatly buzz-cut hair, khaki pants, a collared shirt and tie. He occasionally lowered his head as he listened to the proceedings, especially as District Attorney Fernando Macias presented his opening statement.

Testimony from the lead police investigator in the case was interrupted during the afternoon when state District Judge Douglas Driggers was informed that an unauthorized livestream of the trial had been spotted on Facebook.

Driggers called a recess and, after the jury left the room, demanded to know if anyone observing the trial was streaming from the courtroom, even instructing security officers to begin a row-by-row search for a mobile phone before Macias determined that the footage was coming from a KFOX-TV news camera authorized to be in the courtroom. The station was providing pooled video footage for other news stations.

Macias was overheard telling a KFOX reporter that the livestream could influence testimony from witnesses, who are barred from observing prior testimony except for expert witnesses.

The live stream was halted, but as of 7 p.m. Monday, hours after the incident, an hour and 45 minutes of video footage including witness testimony was still present in a post on KFOX’s Facebook page. The Journal was unable to reach KFOX for comment Monday evening.

Macias played video footage from the shooting during his opening statement, where he repeatedly called the scene a “killing zone” and said the prosecution’s evidence would show that Rivas and his compatriots went to the park to kill Estrada and fired at least 60 bullets into a crowd, killing Estrada, wounding others and killing Madrid and Gomez, whom Macias indicated were bystanders at the event.

Macias said prosecutors would present evidence that Rivas and the other defendants left the scene, drove to El Paso to create an alibi and made efforts to dispose of weapons and clothing connecting them to the shooting.

He also warned the jury that because of the chaotic circumstances and volume of witness accounts and bystander videos, there would be some inconsistencies in testimony but “the volume of evidence will coincide.”

The defense’s opening statement was limited to a few minutes, but attorney Samuel Ruyle, part of Rivas’ defense team, previewed a case that would allege a hasty investigation by Las Cruces police, stating, “A lot of evidence was ignored.” Ruyle said the defense would present evidence that self-defense would be a crucial element of their case for acquitting Rivas.

The second witness was Las Cruces Police Department Lt. Peter Bradley, who oversees the department’s criminal investigation division and was the lead agent in the case. Bradley’s testimony on Monday included a first-hand account of the emergency response to the scene, accompanied by officers’ body camera footage showing a scene in which bystanders flocked to first responders requesting help or were administering aid to multiple gunshot victims as officers simultaneously performed first aid while gathering information from witnesses.

After 5 p.m., Driggers halted the day’s proceedings while expressing regret that Bradley would have return the following day to complete his testimony and be cross-examined by the defense. “Splitting the witness” over a day in this fashion was very rare in his court, he said, but could not be helped owing to interruptions during the afternoon – the longest of which was the live-streaming incident.

Based on the exposure of court proceedings and testimony, Driggers stringently reminded the jury that they were not to discuss the case with anyone, conduct research or take in any news coverage of the trial.

Bradley was due to continue his testimony Tuesday morning.

Algernon D'Ammassa is the Journal's southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.