{"id":33979,"date":"2023-05-17T23:32:06","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T05:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/farmington-gunman-wore-body-armor-and-left-a-note-but-motive-is-unclear\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:15:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:15:29","slug":"farmington-gunman-wore-body-armor-and-left-a-note-but-motive-is-unclear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/farmington-gunman-wore-body-armor-and-left-a-note-but-motive-is-unclear\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmington gunman wore body armor and left a note, but motive is unclear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A note was found in the pocket of Farmington shooting suspect Beau Wilson, but whether it suggests motive for the shooting remained unclear. (Courtesy Farmington Police Department)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A note found in the pocket of Farmington\u2019s mass shooter led police to believe Beau Wilson, 18, planned for \u201cthis being his final event,\u201d Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe said during a news conference Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Wilson reportedly wrote, \u201cIf anyone messes with his sister there will be problems,\u201d Hebbe said, adding police were \u201ctrying to find out if there was an issue with his sister.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, police have been unable to find anyone with information about the relationship between Wilson, a Farmington High School student, and his sister, Hebbe said, adding \u201cIt is a red flag that maybe he was planning something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

There is no exact motive into the May 15 shooting, during which Wilson shot and killed three people and injured six others \u2013 five of whom were \u201cstruck by gunfire,\u201d San Juan County Sheriff\u2019s Capt. Kevin Burns said. Seven houses and 11 vehicles were also hit with bullets.<\/p>\n

\"The
The path of suspected shooter Beau Wilson began at his father\u2019s home in the 1000 block of North Dustin Avenue and ended at 713 N. Dustin Ave., where he was shot and killed at 713 N. Dustin Ave. (Google Maps)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The mass shooting, which started at 10:56 a.m., covered a \u00bc mile area with 230 calls to dispatch from a 20-block area. Police believe Wilson started firing an \u201cAR-15 rifle\u201d from his North Dustin-area home, and he was home alone. He then abandoned the rifle in a bush and began walking and firing a .22-caliber handgun, Hebbe said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s also wearing a bulletproof vest similar to what the police would wear,\u201d Hebbe said. \u201cIt has the soft armor in it. We think it might be homemade. It has steel plates in it as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Farmington
Farmington shooting suspect Beau Wilson wore a bulletproof jacket during the shooting, but how he acquired it has not been determined (Courtesy Farmington Police Department)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The vest and the .22 were found discarded, and Wilson began using a 9 mm handgun. \u201cThat\u2019s what he was using in the final stand with officers,\u201d Hebbe said.<\/p>\n

Wilson shot Farmington Police Sgt. Rachel Discenza. She was hit with a bullet in her pelvic region. She was treated and released at San Juan Regional Medical Center and is recovering from the injury. Hebbe said the gunman was shot simultaneously by police and died from the injury.<\/p>\n

The entire incident lasted until 11:06 a.m., and in that time, three women were struck with bullets. Melody Ivie, 73, and Gwendolyn Schofield, 97, died at the scene, while Shirley Voita, 79, was shot and taken to San Juan Regional Medical Center, where she died.<\/p>\n

\"Farmington
Farmington shooting victim Shirley Voita was 79 years old. (Courtesy photo)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

New Mexico State Police Officer Andreas Statmatiadas was shot in his vehicle while driving by the scene. He drove himself to the hospital, where he was treated.<\/p>\n

Statmatiadas was on his way to assist as were other police agencies and first responders. The response of Farmington Fire and Emergency Medical Services \u201cwas just outstanding,\u201d Hebbe said, adding since that day, the investigation has continued to evolve.<\/p>\n

\"Farmington
Farmington shooting victim Melody Ivie was 73 years old. (Courtesy photo)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Police discovered Wilson purchased three magazines for the AR-15 two days before the shooting, and they found 10 firearms and 1,400 rounds of ammunition in the home Wilson shared with his father, whose name has not been released by authorities.<\/p>\n

Wilson used three firearms in the shooting, and two of still had rounds in them. \u201cThe AR-15 had a round in the chamber, and he had a magazine with rounds in it,\u201d Hebbe said, adding the .22-caliber pistol had a round with ammunition in it. Wilson did not have any ammunition in his pockets.<\/p>\n

\"Farmington
Farmington shooting victim, Gwendolyn Herman, was 97 years old. (Courtesy photo)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cHe had three weapons in this event and 10 more available to him,\u201d Hebbe said, pointing out that \u201cit isn\u2019t illegal for people to own weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite this, the family has told police they believed Wilson suffered from mental illness.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was struggling with mental health issues,\u201d Hebbe said, adding an in-depth investigation into Wilson\u2019s mental health will be done, as police plan to subpoena his school records and find out if he was under doctor\u2019s care and perhaps on medication.<\/p>\n

Police plan to provide daily updates on the shooting incident to provide updates on the investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Suspect Beau Wilson had access to 10 other firearms at home<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[168,799,28,3719,390],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-33979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-crime","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-massacre","tag-shooting"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33979"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82428,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33979\/revisions\/82428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33979"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=33979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}