ActivePaper Archive Three killed in Hobbs shooting - Hobbs News Sun, 8/27/2019

Three killed in Hobbs shooting

DJ at party accused of opening fire

Picture

Kristal Avena

Picture

Lamar Lee-Kane

Picture

Khalil Carter

Picture

Above is the back yard shown in the 1700 block of East Bond where police say three people were shot and killed and another four people suffered gunshot wounds. Below, more than 100 people gathered at Hobbs City Park on Sunday night to hold a candlelight vigil and release balloons in wake of the shooting that took place early Sunday morning.

SHOSHANA HOWELL NEWS-SUN PHOTOS

Picture
Picture

Henderson

One was a a -year- . Another was excited he just graduated from high school. The third was living all the way across the country from his home to pursue his college dreams.

Early Sunday night, a gunman snuffed their lives and wounded four others in Hobbs in what may be the largest mass shooting in Hobbs’ most recent memory.

Already arrested for his alleged involvement in the shooting was the DJ of the party where the shootings occurred, according to the Hobbs Police Department.

Bishop Henderson III, 19, of Hobbs was arrested Sunday at 2:04 p.m. in the 600 block of East Broadway, and charged with one count of aggravated battery, a third-degree felony. According to HPD, additional charges are pending and the investigation is active with Henderson being held at the Hobbs City Jail pending arraignment.

Khalil Carter, 18, of Hobbs, Kristal Avena, 24, of Hobbs and Lamar Lee-Kane Jr., 22, of Washington, D.C., all succumbed to their injuries at the scene in the backyard of a residence in the 1700 block of East Bond.

When officers arrived at the house, they found three dead in the back yard of the home, according to police reports. They also located a red truck at Jefferson and Sanger, about one mile from the home, carrying three people with gunshot wounds. Those three were Michael Major, 21, of Florida, Rontrell Hills, 23, of Houma, Louisiana, and Jasmine Stansell, 20, of Amarillo.

Officers later learned a fourth person, Turon Windham, 20, of Chicago, had been taken to Lea Regional Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the face.

This was the second time HPD had been to the house that night. According to the criminal complaint on Henderson’s arrest, HPD had visited the home at 11:47 p.m. in reference to a loud music call and contacted Henderson, who was playing the music at the party.

When HPD arrived the second time at 12:48 a.m. based on a loud party with shots fired, police found two witnesses saying Bishop was the shooter.

One witness described Bishop as the DJ for the party.

“(The witness) reported that while Bishop was playing music, he held a gun in air and fired several shots. (The witness) then stated she witnessed Bishop point the gun at a man standing near a beer pong table and saw Bishop shoot this male,” the report states.

A second witness told police the individual at the party who did the shooting was the man officers talked to earlier in the evening about the loud music call.

The injured were treated at Lea Regional Medical Center. Major was treated and released while Windham, Hills and Stansell were transferred to a Lubbock area hospital.

USW PROVOST RYAN TIPTON said he could not comment or confirm that any of those involved were students due to privacy laws. He said the focus now is on supporting the community and each other.

“We are part of the Hobbs community and the Hobbs community is hurting now,” Tipton said. “We are going to continue to provide support for every one that is hurting right now. When the Hobbs community is hurting, we are hurting.”

According to the University of the Southwest website, Kane, Windham, Hills and Stansell were or had been students and athletes at the university.

“The parents, family members, and friends of our student who died should be held up in prayer this week and always, along with those residents in Hobbs who were directly impacted,” USW President Quint Thurman said in his president’s blog on Monday. “The students who were wounded and the medical personnel who were and are treating them should also be in our prayers for perfect healing and recovery. We should be thankful for our emergency responders and public safety officers for their efforts on behalf of everyone who was injured. And I am entirely thankful for our campus community and an outpouring of support from the people of Hobbs for their response to our time of need.”

USW is establishing a memorial fund for USW victims and their families. Victims Fund Contributions can be mailed to the University of the Southwest at 6610 N Lovington Hwy, Suite 510, in Hobbs, New Mexico 88240.

“As we come together this week in groups small and large to pray for those who have suffered great loss and for those whom we want to see their health fully restored, let us seek comfort in our faith so that we may be a source of peace, comfort, and strength to those in need,” Thurman wrote.

A GoFundMe account also has been set up for Avena and Carter and numerous fundraisers are being organized by the community.

As of Monday afternoon, acting Hobbs Police Chief Brian Dunlap said there were no new charges and the incident was still under investigation. Anyone with information should contact the Hobbs Police at 575-397-9265 or Lea County Crime Stoppers at 575-393-8005. Callers may remain anonymous.

Carter most recently graduated late from Hobbs High School and was looking forward to his next step of going to college. The oldest of five siblings and the only boy was born and raised in Central Valley, Calif. He moved to Hobbs about eight years ago, where he lived with his grandmother and 14-year-old sister. His family remembers him as a leader and protector.

“He was a great grandson,” said his grandmother Sandra Todd, who helped raise him. “He was our man of the house.”

Carter loved sports, especially football and basketball.

His sister, Aniah Carolina, remembers her brother as a protector and leader who cooked the best shrimp.

“He was a great person and he didn’t deserve to be taken away this early,” she said. “He would do anything for me.”

Avena was a mother of a four-year-old girl, Emilly, who had just started pre-school. She was the youngest of two siblings and was studying for her test to be a pharmacy technician while working at a Walgreen’s in Hobbs.

Avena was born in Arizona and moved to Hobbs with her big sister, Krisilda Martinez, during her teen years. She enjoyed spending time with her daughter and taking her clothes and shoe shopping.

“SHE WAS A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG GIRL and she had a big heart, she was a good mother,” Martinez said. “She was a good kid, she was at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Avena’s family expressed their gratitude for all the acts of kindness shown to them, such as GoFundMe account setup by her friend Ayanna Lujan.

“I wish she was here to see all the love and support she is getting,” her sister said. “They were all good kids. They didn’t have anything to do with anything that happened.”

Lee-Kane was on the 2018-19 USW basketball team and was majoring in sports management, according to USW’s website. His hometown is listed at Washington, D.C., where he attended Calvin Coolidge High School.

A candlelight vigil was held Sunday at City Park where more than 100 gathered with candles and released balloons. Another vigil took place at Booker T. Washington Elementary on Monday night.

“We are just asking the community to come together. Let’s pray. Let’s talk, Let’s have conversations. Let’s rally around the young people and steer them in a positive direction,” said Joe Cotton, president of the Hobbs branch of the NAACP, of the vigils. “We’ve got to deal with it in a positive way.”