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Thank you.

This is Fronteras A Changing America, I'm KC Counts thank you for joining us for this hour-long program marking the anniversary of the Young Park mass shooting, which claimed three young lives and injured over a dozen others on the night of March 21st, 2025.

Communities around our region are still struggling to appropriately address youth violence, especially gun violence.

To help us understand some of those efforts and the challenges the issue presents, we'll be joined by Las Cruces Public Schools executive director of academic counseling and behavioral health Amy Himelright, former district three Las Cruces city counselor Becky Graham and PAL boxing gym executive director Louie Burke.

We'll also have reporting from Abigail Salas, who talks to someone who was there that night, and Noah Raess, who introduces us to Las Cruces new park rangers who are tasked with helping to keep city parks safe for residents to enjoy.

First, a look back at some reporting in the days following the shooting from former KRWG Public Media multimedia journalist Jonny Coker.

Family and other members of the community gathered at Young Park to pay homage to the three victims who perished in the March 21st shooting.

21 year old Zanaya Hernandez said she and her brother were among the crowd of bystanders fleeing the gunfire.

They did shoot our car they did get our car and our tire.

I mean, I'm okay, my brother's okay.

It was packed you had people parking at La Casa, people across the street at the dirt.

You know, coming to watch people in their cars and then out of nowhere, just people dead.

Families are hurt.

Hernandez said she grew up in Las Cruces and defended against the notion that the car meet up itself was the problem, and said she'd even be open to organizers collaborating with the city to ensure security at future events.

This had nothing to do with the car meet whatsoever.

We can still have fun.

We can still get together.

We can show off our cars without families getting hurt, without people, you know, dropping to the ground.

Amid the ongoing investigation, Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story led a press conference detailing the events of Friday night through redacted body camera footage, images and 911 calls.

Story said all four suspects that have been arrested have a history of criminal incidents.

He also criticized the state legislature for not passing a bill to address juvenile crime, and specifically advocated for 2025 House Bill 134.

When speaking about the potential of a special legislative session.

This is not about politics, but it is about policy.

Police chiefs from across the state and the New Mexico Association of Chiefs of Police have been screaming from the rooftops about a very serious juvenile violent crime problem we have in New Mexico.

D.A.s across New Mexico, like District Attorney Bregman in Bernalillo, have been sounding the alarm on juvenile crime.

Yet nothing meaningful was accomplished in our last legislative session to address these dire concerns.

Among officials at the press conference was Las Cruces City manager, Ikani Taumoepeau, who said discussion is ongoing among city leaders regarding youth diversion programs and safe spaces for young people.

One of the things that, we have right now is a facility of our Amador live facility that the city owns.

One of those things right now is we had a business that left and were looking to reprogram this, and one of the opportunities that we're looking at is making this a function for the youth in the community.

In the upcoming weeks, we'll continue to meet with our teams, the counselors and the mayor, and with our staff to see what we can do to create a safe space so the youth can, be heard so they can talk and we can figure this out because we won't find solutions, as adults, if we don't include the demographic.

As the community mourns the tragic loss of life.

City leaders are left grappling with how to prevent another tragedy while giving the city's youth safe spaces to gather.

For KRWG Public Media I'm Jonny Coker.

That piece was published on our website March 26th, 2025.

Since then, there has been another legislative session and sadly, more shootings involving teenagers and young adults.

Later in the program, we'll talk with former City Councilor Becky Graham about what steps the city took following the shooting.

But first, we welcome Las Cruces Public Schools executive director of academic counseling and behavioral health Amy Himelright.

Thank you for joining us.

You're welcome.

Thanks for having me.

Why don't we start with kind of what happens within Las Cruces public schools when a tragic event like this takes place?

Sure.

We follow what's called the prepare model, and it's a national model by the National Association for School Psychologists that really teaches us to identify the need and then follow that need.

So, of course, we immediately want to find out which children and families were most impacted, check on their well-being, and then, try to administer psychological first aid to establish emotional safety and physical safety for everybody that was impacted by a tragedy such as this.

Why don't you talk about what emotional or psychological first aid looks like?

So it really starts with just listening carefully and assessing for, a sense of need or, trying to get back to a place of emotional and psychological safety because an event like this can be so dysregulating psychologically, not only to the direct victims, but to all of the students that even hear about it, because it leaves everybody feeling, it can leave many people feeling really unsafe and shaken.

And so, it's just about identifying that.

And then, through caring relationships, trying to stabilize, stabilize that for people.

How long have you been working in this capacity?

Well, this is my 28th year with, New Mexico public schools, and I think it's my seventh or eighth in administration working with our counselors and social workers.

How would you say the tragedy at Young Park compared with other events that you've had to deal with, with public school students?

It was unique, of course.

we've.

Just every every tragedy is a tragedy, and every tragedy is different.

Obviously, you know, we at times have to respond to suicide to death by automobile accident.

But to hear that there was an actual kind of mass shooting at a park right next to our community school, it, I was in disbelief and really hoped it not to be true.

It was, it was shocking and and just terrible.

So how does Las Cruces public schools address youth violence?

What role does the district play in that effort?

We have a really important role in in preventing and addressing youth violence, and we do that through many different forms.

One is through community partnership.

We partner with FYI+ and La Pinion, who actually come into our schools and explicitly teach and violence reduction anti-violence curriculum.

Through our partnership with LCPD, we have our SROs in our high schools and middle schools, and they're bringing back, a reinvigorated DARE curriculum.

If many people are familiar with DARE it's been completely rewritten.

And, and so they're now administering, administering that to our elementary aged students.

How would you say it's different, than the one that we might remember from middle school?

Well, what you might remember, about the when, you know, from when we were kids.

This is your brain.

Yes, this is your brain.

And just say no.

Yeah, and just say no.

And, so it's more evidence based.

It teaches responsible decision making socially.

You know, all of the principles of social emotional learning, commitment and responsibility to community.

And it's also it's about building positive relationships with caring adults.

In this case, our school resource officers, the National Guard is actually coming in and teaching some of those DARE classes as well.

To try to get ahead of violence before it ever starts.

Is that something that all students are partaking in?

Eventually, yes.

Yeah, we're we're rolling it out.

There's a limited number of certified officers right now, but all elementary students will will receive that curriculum.

How does someone in your capacity address the root causes of youth violence?

So that's, you know, one of the most important things we can do.

And in the first way that we do that is just by trying to get kids in school.

Since the pandemic, we've, really struggled with chronic absenteeism.

Currently, we're sitting at about 25% of kids chronically absent from school in Las Cruces public schools.

So one of our major initiatives is trying to create schools where kids want to be there, so that they can have those attachments to caring adults so that they can have community so that they can find belonging, with peers, get involved in activities, sports, all of the things that we want a school to be, you know, other than just literacy and numeracy.

So one of our primary interventions, right now is looking for those kiddos that aren't coming to school regularly and trying to figure out what barriers they have to being at school so that we can try to help them overcome those.

You probably can identify what some of those barriers are Absolutely.

At this point.

Why don't you tell us about that?

Sometimes it's mental health.

Sometimes it's transportation.

It's all of the things you might think.

Sometimes it's unstable housing.

some of our students are staying home to care for younger siblings.

These are things that we encounter when we go out in the community and find these kiddos.

And you mentioned, you know, coming to school to form attachments with caring adults.

You know, we have to talk about parental involvement at this point and, and how many of our youth might be struggling with, you know, their own familial situations.

Absolutely.

And we know that incidents of adverse childhood experiences are very high in New Mexico.

So we've got to work with our parents and guardians as well.

We recently we opened a, a family resource center in partnership with Doña Ana County Resilience Leaders.

And their focus is really going to be on supporting families of children aged 0 to 3.

We want to get in there early and start resourcing these families with the skills they need to build healthy, strong relationships with their children.

so, so we're starting, you know, before pre-K, we're trying to go way back.

Well, you know, that's, I didn't necessarily plan on talking about universal child care with you today, but.

Yeah, reaching those kids, from the earliest point possible.

And I know we hear from, lawmakers and others that, it's important in order to get them prepared to move into school and be more successful during those years.

Why don't you tell us about what some of those people in those jobs do?

How do they identify, folks that they need to go visit?

And what do they look for?

Sure.

So one of the things they do is they teach what's called circle of security, which is an attachment based, parenting style to the parents of these young and young children.

And, really teach them that, that attachment between the ages of zero and three is essential to healthy brain development and to kiddos being regulated in their bodies.

Which without that, we absolutely can lead to dysregulated behavior.

We can lead to to acts of violence.

So, families can self-refer sometimes we get referrals from the court system.

Right now we're just trying to really get the word out there and, and engage families in that.

What are some of the resources that you would point families to if they think they need some help?

Right.

So they also have, at the Family Resource Center, they have what's called navigators.

And those navigators can help resource the family with just about any need, whether it's a housing need, a need for clothing, a need for food.

We want to take care of those basic needs, so that our families can be focused on on being healthy and also just having fun and being fun, happy, healthy families.

If they have counseling needs, it's it's really unique to each individual family.

So we have to talk about the role that guns play and, making these, violent encounters so deadly.

Yeah.

it's not Las Cruces public Schools role to necessarily speak out about that issue, but how has the district responded to it and is there a message?

Yeah, I don't mind speaking on that issue at all, because in fact, in the last five years or so, while, intercepts between juveniles and law enforcement leading to citation have reduced in overall number, the seriousness and dangerousness of those encounters has greatly increased.

We're seeing more acts of violence, including assault, battery and unfortunately, even manslaughter.

So it's really important that we take an active role in the schools to prevent that one through education.

Like I spoke about to kind of a more brass tacks, approach is weapons detection systems, which now any visitor to any of our middle or high schools will have to go through in order to enter the building.

And then finally, we are monitoring all of our student devices or any device, used by a student attached to our internet for warning signs.

We have 24-7 monitoring both by AI and human monitor, moderators to try to catch, any kind of signs that a violent act may occur before it does.

Would that include social media?

Anything?

Anything.

They're doing on, a LCPS device or LCPS internet we're monitoring?

That's a really fascinating concept.

And, we could talk a long time about we could, we could, but I want to get back to just the weapons detection.

And how has that changed the mood at the schools or, and can you also say how often has it resulted in finding weapons?

Sure.

I honestly don't know how many times it's resulted in finding weapons.

And so I don't want to give you misinformation on that.

I can't speak to the mood.

At first it felt really eerie, and unfamiliar.

Now it's just it feels very normal, to tell you the truth.

And, for a lot of people, I think it does offer some, sense of security that that we're watching to keep everybody safe.

In your role, do you deal as much with our educators mental health as you do with our students?

I do, I also, under my purview is actually our staff wellness and employee assistance program.

So we offer free, confidential counseling to all of our staff.

Let's get back to how your monitoring kind of those communications that might indicate some, some trouble.

Did that involve a new a new department or new individuals, or is it kind of just AI doing its thing so.

Well, it's it is AI and then it's a contracted company called Linewize.

So AI scans for any alerting material online that's reviewed by a human moderator.

And then that moderator assigns a risk level between 1 and 5.

From there we get notified.

And no, we don't have any additional staff.

So we notify a team at the school, but also a safety team that includes me at, the central office level.

So we have a lot of eyes on it.

if it's a very high need, a very serious alert.

We also get a phone call from from the moderators at Linewize, to assure that we've seen it and that we're responding.

How, how big a role do you feel that social media has played in this difficult issue?

A tremendous role.

I don't envy our students growing up with social media.

They never get a break.

you know, we used to be able to to come home after school, do our thing, you know, and when it was bedtime, it was bedtime.

These kids are being bombarded around the clock by messaging that's not always healthy and not always safe.

So I think it, it plays a tremendous role, both detrimental to their mental health, but also in their decision making, which as their prefrontal cortex develops, you know, that's risky.

There have been new cell phone policies in Las Cruces public schools and in many other places that have seemed to prove positive.

Yes.

In, in in changes.

What have you seen as a result of, restricting cell phone use?

And at this point, what can you say as to how pervasive in the district it is?

Sure.

So I talked to several of our principals recently as some legislation was being proposed surrounding this statewide to to get their opinion.

And those that have eliminated cell phone use during the day are reporting very positive outcomes.

Less violence, less fighting, less interpersonal inter relational kind of bullying.

It has a tremendously positive effect according to the principals that I've talked to.

And we do see less discipline incidents post eliminating cell phones during the day at school.

How do counselors, school counselors keep up with the changing factors that young people are facing and how to handle those and help them handle them?

Yeah, it's not easy.

And to be honest with you, we don't do it and couldn't do it by ourselves.

We really rely on community partnerships, so our school based health centers are actively, operating in eight of our schools.

They've expanded their hours of operation in their days, that they're operating.

Just as one example, we have MOUs with FYI plus southwest family guidance centers.

So we're bringing in the troops, the mental health troops, to help us keep up.

Because, because it is tremendous.

What message do you have in terms of youth engagement?

So you did mention earlier, you know, the efforts to try to get them involved just coming to school.

But then beyond that, taking part in activities and things that they can grow a passion about.

It's vital, our for the developing young, teenage and teenage mind, belonging to a group is, essential to their surviving and thriving.

They're going to find that group belonging somewhere.

And so if we can guide them toward, positive belonging to meaningful events, activities, sport, whatever it is, then we really are preventing violence.

What is the alternative?

And for some of those young people who have taken that unfortunate path, what do you think is the one thing driving it more than others?

You know, it's it's hard to say.

That's kind of the million dollar question because we've we've seen this coming on for a while.

I do think that adverse childhood experiences in New Mexico and that could include, you know, living in poverty, witnessing domestic violence.

There have at that has a huge impact.

Additionally, I think technology and cell phone usage, not just by children, but by their parents going back to that age, 0 to 3, we really need parents to be present and attuned in real time, in real space with their children.

And I think, it's gotten harder not to kind of engage in distracted parenting.

So I think it's a lot of things.

I don't think we can nail it down to just one.

but but we know what we can try, know to to resolve it.

Yeah.

You often see, and I can't blame any parent for, you know, being at a dinner in a nice restaurant and passing the iPad over.

Right, right.

So that that's that's a real challenge, I know, for parents to to balance the technology with, you know, more positive human experiences, what are kids and in schools, what is their message when they talk to counselors.

And do you feel that they're taking advantage of the services that are offered?

Many of them are.

And I'll go back to the importance of attendance.

So so when kiddos are at school and we have them in front of us, we have a lot of supports to offer them.

So I think what I worry about most are, is that 25% who are continued to be chronically absent, those are the students that we have the most difficulty resourcing.

And you literally have to go meet them where they are.

Yes, absolutely.

And so tell me what that process is.

Sure.

So we're constantly tracking the data and identifying those students that, are not coming to school and where we partner within NMSU, 29 paid social work interns are, working for us right now.

And we're literally going out and looking for those kiddos if we can find them and reengage them in school were connecting them with a mentor.

And we have found that if the students come back and engage in mentorship, their grades go up, their attendance behaviors improve.

So we're having a lot of success with that.

Do you find that some of the kids that are in that 25% are just lacking the belief in their own potential for success?

Absolutely.

You know, academic frustration is a is another very real reason for school refusal or school avoidance.

And so, again, going back to the importance of that early childhood education, of being engaged in school from the very beginning and attending.

And, because once a kiddo kind of feels behind, it can be very discouraging.

What frustrates you in your work that you'd really like to see a change on, whether it's policy or somewhere else, partnerships, policy, science, whatever it is, what do you think is going to help push your profession to the next level?

So I think two things come to mind.

And one is, of course, funding.

You know, with with cuts to federal funding that supports initiatives like behavioral health in the schools and social and social emotional learning in the schools.

That's really concerning and frustrating.

And two kind of ties back to funding as well is just having enough counselors and, and social workers in the schools.

You know, teachers are funded in such a way by the state that for every X number of students enrolled, you get X number of teachers.

Counselors are not, we come out of the operational budget kind of on the other end.

and so we have very high caseloads.

And if I had a magic wand, I would have one counselor or social worker for every 250 kiddos in our school.

That does sound like a pretty big number still.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, right.

Las Cruces Public Schools executive director of academic counseling and behavioral health Amy Himelright.

Thank you so much for sharing your perspective with us.

Thank you for having me.

We appreciate it.

Yeah.

People of all ages enjoy meeting up with other car enthusiasts and KRWG Public media local news fellow Abigail Salas introduces us to two of those individuals, including her own brother.

Her brothers were at Young Park on the night of March 21st, 2025.

What do you want to know about the car?

Tell me about it.

How long have you got it?

I've had it for two years.

I've been working on everything with it.

I fell in love with it the day I seen it.

I needed a lot of work, but now it's up to par.

it's a 1974 Jenson Haley.

There was only 500 made of this specific model.

This was the car that I had at Youngs Park.

The one I did donuts with the kids.

the one the officers held for three days.

Craig Theriault was filming the cars do donuts when the sound of bullets started pouring.

Oh my God.

I just witnessed a murder.

In his video, you can see him run towards a victim who was later identified as 19 year old Dominic Estrada.

And I didn't know the impact it was going to have on my life.

He said he has realized since that he was at the shooting not to save anyone, but to bring comfort to the victims.

I was so frightened.

I was scared.

I was really a frightened, but I knew that someone had to stand up and someone had to help.

And God, I guess, chose me at that moment.

He said he was asked to testify in the trials, but decided not to because he wants to protect his peace.

Craig now focuses on spreading positivity throughout the city.

And we all share a responsibility to take care of one another and to take care of our youth.

Of course, after the interview, he had to do some donuts.

He believes that young people like the car scene, because that is the only way they can free themselves from the stress and to show off what they have worked for.

They want to get out here and flex their vehicles.

They work hard for their vehicles.

Now that is the reason why my brother, Christian Salas was at the park that night.

He has a green dropped 1998 Chevy Silverado.

Our dad gave him this truck and he has been working to upgrade it since he got it.

I think mentally it did take a little toll on me a little bit, you know?

but I tried to not let.

I tried to not let it, get the best of me.

For the most part, I did just notice a change in how I behaved and what I what I found my entertainment in you know.

He hasnt attended a car meet in a year.

He would rather stay home he said.

He does miss showing his truck off.

Truck was the way that he expresses himself.

The car scene inspired him to start working on it, but he mentioned that he has seen fewer car meet ups happening.

I think the car scene and these car meets were something that really kept me entertained.

At least something I could put my heart into because, I mean, we all have a vehicle, you know, and it's just it's something else.

Being able to put love and time into it, you know, and for everyone else to see that was that was pretty cool.

A year later, he has reflected on the way that this has taken a toll on him.

I was unharmed.

You know, all I did was just run and get to my truck and get, you know, to a safe place.

And at first I didn't think much of it.

You know, I just, like I'm just a survivor, you know, it's whatever.

But I think now that I let the time pass and I see how it affected the city.

You know it with my emotions.

It's just, it was hard, you know, seeing a kid younger than me, passed away and just.

It can be any of us, you know?

And I think that's what really could really.

I also really took a toll on me.

He doesn't think the car scene is completely dead.

People are still working on cars and showing them off, but it did dulled the sparkle that the car scene had in the city.

The family of one of the victims, 17 year old Jason Gomez, has filed a lawsuit against the city that alleges that the city knew of these car meets and failed to secure the gates at the park, provide security and enforce permits.

They are seeking compensation for funeral burial costs and other legal costs.

Two of four people charged in the shooting have been found guilty.

They are brothers Thomas and Nathan Rivas.

Josiah Ontiveros is scheduled to go on trial next month.

Gustavo Dominguez is scheduled to go on trial in July for KRWG Public Media I'm Abigail Salas.

The young people who lost their lives one year ago at Young Park are 16-year old Andrew Madrid.

18-year old Jason Gomez and 19-year old Dominic Estrada One effort the city of Las Cruces, through the police department has employed to help keep parks safe is the Park Ranger program, which Noah Raess will examine later in the program.

Now we welcome Becki Graham, former Las Cruces city councilor and member of the PAL boxing gym board.

Thank you for being with us.

Thank you so much for having me.

And Louie Burke executive director and head coach at PAL Boxing.

Good to have you here.

Thank you for having me.

I know you both, have such great perspective to offer on this issue.

first, Becki, you were representing district three at the time of this shooting, and you took some time out to talk to KRWG.

In the days after the shooting to offer some thoughts on where we are with youth violence and what role the city could play to try to address it.

How would you characterize the actions taken by city councilors and other city officials in the wake of the shooting?

I think that the city came together not just as elected officials and city staff, but as members of a grieving community.

Young Park, I consider at the heart of district three.

That was the district that I was representing, and I myself had so many memories of being there.

So it's not just acting or reacting as an elected official or a staffer.

It is as a Las Crucen and and I think that we came together in ways that brought the strengths of each department of each unit of our community partners.

And I think that once we had a moment to take a breath, we really tried our hearts to have a holistic, comprehensive response while still doing the heavy work of mourning along and all the other work that is expected all the other work city council, day to day.

These are the kinds of events that we remember, you know, where we were, what were we doing?

But how does someone like you get word of something like this?

The city manager's office, does a really great job of keeping the city council aware of things that, you know, hopefully we hear from them before we hear in the news or on social media.

So it is hard to hear things anywhere at first.

But social media, I think because so many of us pick up our phones first thing, you know.

Yes, when we're awake.

How about you, Louie?

What?

How did you get word of this tragic event?

And tell us about how you felt when you heard about it and what your immediate thoughts were.

We were at the state box, Golden Glove championships.

So I had my my competitive team with me.

There was a approximately 12 of the kids were with me in Roswell, New Mexico, and they were competing when I got a phone call and, and I don't remember who called me, but at the time it did strike, it was it hit me hard because that was a demographic that I work with.

Those teenage kids, most of them Hispanic, males.

That's what we've been.

That's the nucleus of our gym, even though we have other ethnicities.

And, we also have women that are really good boxers as well.

But but, the demographic that was involved in that shooting, that's that's the demographic I work with the most.

So it hit home.

I did make an announcement when I heard about it at the tournament.

And just thank, the coaches that put in their time, or some of the people that put in their time, it's, volunteer time.

And so it's something they give back to the community.

And, so I wanted to thank them because they keep these kids out of trouble, out of the out of the parks or out of wherever, doing the bad things at the, you know, getting into trouble.

How did your students react?

Of course they knew some of the people that were involved, so they were saddened and someone took it harder than others.

But, yeah, we had some of the kids that knew some kids on a personal level.

And so it was hard.

It was hard for them.

Why do you do this type of work with this particular demographic?

Well, it started with my father.

My father was, he was abandoned when he was a young.

When he was a teenager.

A young teenager.

And and he had a teacher that took him in and, helped him out.

And, some people in the community, a boxing coach and one was an artist, a sign painter.

And my dad became a sign painter, and he became a boxing coach and and, the people that helped my father, he always wanted to pay that back.

So him and my mother were really involved in helping youth.

And my mom was, more on the education side of it, but, they, they did reach out and help a lot of kids that were, troubled kids.

So it just, I just kind of fell into it.

And, it was had a, you know, it is something my family's did for a long time.

Runs, runs, in the genes, I guess.

Yes uh-huh.

And Becki, you sit on the board of PAL Boxing.

Why don't you tell us, about your passion for that particular organization?

So I actually discovered what I call the magic of PAL in my early 30s as a fighter.

I just randomly decided to become an amateur boxer.

You randomly decided to become an amateur boxer?

Yes, in my 30s.

So I had experienced the PAL program as a fighter, much older than the typical people coming in, and then did some coaching.

And when I stepped onto city council, the gym had enjoyed some financial support from the city in the past, but that had kind of fallen to the wayside.

And I knew coming into my term that that was one of my top priorities, was to get PAL back on the city funding radar.

And actually, maybe a month into my term, we had our budget retreat at the Las Cruces Convention Center, and I stood up and gave a very impassioned speech about PAL boxing to a room full of faces that I didn't really know yet.

but PAL sells itself.

It took one visit from then assistant city manager Ikani Taumoepeau who's been an incredible supporter of the program.

He came out one night, saw what Louie and what the rest of the coaches and the families are doing and said, this is it we're on.

So let's go back to, you know, the immediate hours and days after the shooting and how city council responded.

What did you do first?

Take a breath and process, obviously.

I'm so glad that Louie shared his experience because I think one comfort I had was that so many of our kids were off at a at a tournament, so that that immediately crossed some names off the list that I had to worry about.

And then, you know, I talked talked with KRWG.

I spoke with a couple of other media outlets, did a little bit of writing, some publish, some not to try to process.

I process through words and really thought immediately.

I want to move to actions and solutions as quickly as possible.

And I know one and and it is PAL.

I think as a city councilor and now as a PAL board member, when we're talking about youth violence, youth crime, I'm in the prevention game.

If we are getting to the point where we're talking about things like youth sentencing or trying to change laws at the state legislature, that's too late.

From my perspective, my job is to get as many kids on an alternate path as possible.

Louie, how do you find kids and how do they find you?

Well, they usually find us.

It's something that they want to try out.

And they they've seen boxing on TV or they're doing it to get physically fit.

We have one, one of our kids, he's not a kid anymore.

He's, he actually graduated from NMSU.

Alvero Garcia.

He came in he was weighing 300, 311 pounds, and he lost enough weight where he won the state championship at 176 pounds, twice now.

And so it's kids like him that motivate other kids.

And it's kids like, like him that motivate me to to keep giving back.

But they find us and, and we're not the only program in town, only there's other boxing programs.

We've been fortunate that, we're part of the city and, we just whenever they come in, we just try and work with them.

And, a lot of these kids, you know, they sometimes have anger issues or, you know, they come from broken homes or whatever.

Whatever causes that anger, they come in.

And we've found through the years and through studies that that actually boxing, instead of making them more aggressive, that actually when they're out of the gym, they get they get a lot easier going and, seem to be able to accept things a little bit better.

They learn discipline there and a place that's safe where they can take out their frustrations, you know, they can spar with each other, they can hit the bag.

So, you know, in all these things have come back to to help us out and to, to be able to help the kids and say, hey, you know, if you do this, at least we have a controlled area where you can get some of that frustration out.

You know, there have already been two trials and two guilty verdicts for two brothers, related to the shooting.

Two more trials, yet to come.

And the district attorney's office did decide to prosecute these, even the juvenile as an adult.

And you mentioned, you know, at that stage, it's too late.

So where do you think the disconnect is right now?

And how do you think the approaches or should be to treat the prevention side in a more effective way?

Yes.

Just it's it's nothing new.

We're not inventing something new, but it is low barrier, easy access.

for instance, PAL is a completely free program.

We provide equipment.

There are no gym dues.

We, you can come in.

You can come in with no money, no equipment.

And we are going to make sure that you are set up to succeed.

So that is part of it.

Having open access, open roads.

It's having coaches and other fighters to whom you can relate.

And I, I recognize, you know, I was definitely out of the norm for the PAL demographics.

And I still like, you know, I'm still like an annoying extra mother who's telling people to pay attention to their schoolwork.

But I think the beauty of PAL is that so many of the people running the program were in the exact shoes that the kids walking through the door were in.

So having relatable peer mentors is also crucial and again, I think Louie, Louie put it best I think a lot of what we're looking at with youth crime and youth violence is a lack of emotional regulation, so we can put whatever laws in place that we can.

We can try youth as adults.

It does not seem, though, that they are considering those consequences or possibilities in the moment when violence is happening.

If we can instill them with 5 or 10 seconds of what am I doing here?

That to me, that is where my that's where my prevention eye lays.

Err, earlier I spoke with Amy Himelright.

The Las Cruces Public Schools executive director of academic counseling and behavioral health.

And and we did touch on the issue of access to guns because we know that, you know, these violent and such deadly episodes, and, you know, that's a common denominator.

How do we address access to those kinds of weapons?

And is there an effective way, do you think, to move forward on the policy side?

I, I absolutely consider guns an integral part of the problem, and easy access to guns.

And I think one of the things that shocked me the most with the young park tragedy, when the cell phone video started circulating, that there were so many young people there openly carrying firearms, and that was not a red flag to other people in the area that that was so normalized that, of course, you're going to see somebody carrying a long gun around at a at a car meet.

So I think it has become so normalized.

And, you know, I see it's very hard, even in a even in a state where you would expect stricter gun safety laws to pass through pretty easily, given the demographic and makeup of the legislature, it's really difficult to get things done at the state level.

I'm not saying we should give up, but even seeing efforts, both the Doña Ana County Sheriff's Office and Las Cruces Police have done a lot of public service announcements about securing your firearms, especially in vehicles.

The the statistics of guns used in crime that were taken unsecured from someone's vehicle is alarming and infuriating, frankly.

So I see the I see the benefit of local efforts like that, but it's still clearly not enough.

Is that something that you talk about with your students?

Yes, we do.

You know, look like because in a lot of these guns, I was talking to some detectives and I asked them, how do these kids get these guns?

And he said, they break into cars and still steal them.

And that's why there's some some have access to some.

But we need to get the parents a little bit more responsible for these kids.

I know sometimes they don't know what's going on.

I know there's been times my kids, you know, you think you know what they're doing, but you don't.

But the parents need to step up a little bit, and, be a little bit more, I guess a little bit stronger, a little bit nosier or whatever it takes.

I think that by getting these kids into programs and having the right meant, mentoring that we can preach to them, you know, hey, this this is what's wrong, and this is what's right.

And obviously, having a gun, you know, is just going to lead to problems.

So how do you get parents more involved When in our program as they start becoming more successful and start doing better?

People tend to recognize that the child's putting in the effort and they're getting better at what they're doing.

It's just like an anything else.

So they want to be more supportive and they want to be more involved.

And I, I do have a lot of parents are involved in and they help their kids and to encourage them and do better, in the boxing program.

But I see that in all programs, and I, I feel personally that, that, there needs to be more youth programs, not just boxing, but I call it the three A's.

Athletics, academics and arts.

And now you can include technology.

You know, we got we got to try and groom these kids where they, if they find a passion, we can try to cultivate and help them out with them, push them along and encourage them.

Who do you consider other great partners in the community?

Oh, like Boys and Girls Club.

They help a lot.

There's just so many that, you know, you know, I, I know I'd leave a bunch of them out, but, you know, there's people that are that are willing to to do whatever it takes to help these kids.

You know.

You've been very passionate about and we've seen you speak out on different occasions when tragic events like this happen.

What is your message to the community about moving forward in a healthier way?

Well, whenever they see somebody that's, finding something that they enjoy doing that's positive to, to help them help help these kids cultivate help, lead the paths, push them along, you know, just encourage them.

to do better.

And whatever they're doing that's positive.

And, you know, just, stay on top of things, you know, make sure that, you know, whenever these kids, do make a mistake, that, you know, we, we take control of that right away and try and try and steer them in the right direction.

And, Becki, now that you're not on city council anymore, might even be able to speak a little bit more freely about some of the frustrations along the way or what you would hope for or recommend to area lawmakers and elected officials about how they move forward.

I think that, again, there is no one solution.

If there was, everyone would be doing it.

And it is very easy to get ourselves.

And I hold myself accountable here too, to get myself in the echo chamber of it's only this and never that.

But I think looking holistically, treating youth as a resource, an investment, something precious as opposed to something that we have to fear or control or as if they are just, you know, like this little time bomb waiting to go off.

I agree with Louie about focusing on the positive.

And not just as lawmakers, but anyone in the community don't treat this as an inevitability, and the biggest impact you have you can have is just plugging in locally, where all guilty of being on our phones too much or you're getting constant notifications of what's happening statewide or countrywide or worldwide.

And those things are important, but they can create a sense of inertia that prevents forward progress with what's right in front of you.

And so you mentioned your passion when you came on to city council was to to bring PAL boxing back into that budget.

Congratulations for making that happen.

What other things do you think city council did right and where do you think that the opportunity maybe that they haven't found yet is still out there in the last year since since March 21st of 2025?

So, as Louie said, there are a lot of stellar youth programs that are going on city supports, Boys and Girls Club.

We have relationships now not all of these are financial relationships, but supportive relationships with organizations like FYI Plus, looking more at the mental and behavioral health aspects of how we can help out our young people, Community of Hope has programs that also geared toward families facing housing insecurity and younger people who are dealing with that.

So I think we I think the city has done an excellent job of plugging into our local network of experts.

What would one place be or a starting point for a parent or grandparent who needs some help?

So I think that you can if you're if you're looking on the city side, we have community engagement liaisons who are just kind of the front door for any question.

And I obviously trend toward the city council side of things.

But even reaching out to your city councilor, I guarantee that everyone who is occupying one of those seats cares deeply about the community and are reading your emails.

And if you say, I don't know where to go, can you help me?

I'm pretty sure you're going to get a response.

Well, former city councilor for district three, Becki Graham, thank you so much for sharing your perspective.

We appreciate your time.

Thank you for doing this.

And Louie Burke, Executive Director and head coach at PAL Boxing, thank you.

And thank you for the work that you do in the community.

Thank you.

All right.

KRWG multimedia journalist, Noah Raess explored the city of Las Cruces, park ranger program, and filed this report.

Park ranger Brian Perez and his partner are nearly two months into their jobs as rangers, as they patrol around Young Park.

During just one of their shifts, they bounce around between multiple parks around the city, checking in with those in the community and solving any concerns that are brought up.

Perez said that this level of interaction with park goers on a day to day basis is a great improvement from before.

Before patrol had to come out here, you just kind of be in the unit and just kind of keep an eye, keep a unit out here just so the public can see them.

And now I think, like the people see us, the patrol can have the parks out of the way.

Of course, there's calls that parks that we cannot take.

But even then, like I said, we have limited authority, which allows us to do some things at park.

While on patrol, park rangers can issue citations and trespassing violations, but their main job is prevention against any wrongdoing.

In addition to this, Rangers can also serve as a resource for park visitors and call medical services when needed, as shown by the City of Las Cruces during one of their episodes of Bridging the Badge.

Honestly, I think the unhoused is a big issue, but we try not to just sound like you can be out at the park and just kick them out.

We try to connect them to resources.

We have advocates in the department.

I know a lot of people don't know about advocates, but when the people want to help and they seem like they really want to change or they really want to get help, we call them out.

They give them all the information about resources.

And that's one positive thing, because I feel like people who want help, they can get help in the city, and I want them to know that, like, if you really want to help, want help, we have the the resources to help you.

In total, the city has four park rangers that patrol all city owned parks.

Las Cruces police officer Lazaro Polos helped train the rangers and said that their impact is already being felt.

It actually has helped a lot.

It's freed up officers that typically would spend a lot more time here.

I mean, they still do.

They still conduct the free patrols, but the fact that we have the park rangers that are can designate more time is is great.

You know, it's helped us out tremendously.

The safety of parks in Las Cruces has been a hot topic since the shooting at an unsanctioned car meet at Young Park that left three people dead and 15 injured.

While not the only reason for the Rangers, polo said that this highlighted the need for more park safety.

Honestly, I think that was one of the the big push for it.

That was that was like the prime example of not having somebody on ground that could observe and report anything that was going on.

So I feel like that kind of like expedited the whole process.

Much of the Rangers job includes interactions with the public.

Perez said that he enjoys that part of the job and hopes to make the park safer moving into the future.

Honestly, if you see us out here, just talk to us.

I mean, change is not going to happen right away, but I do believe that change is happening and with a little bit of patience, it's going to be real noticeable.

According to Polos, the police department may add more rangers in the future.

For KRWG Public Media, I'm Noah Raess.

Finally, as we continue to reflect on the events of last year, we'll remember one of the ways the community came together to grieve in the shootings aftermath.

KRWG Production Manager, Christian Valle, attended a vigil at Thomas Branigan Memorial Library and heard from organizers and attendees.

So very simply, after, after the incidents of Friday, we saw it necessary and seemed appropriate as a church to collectively gather other churches as a corporate body, come together in prayer for our city.

I feel that it's a we have a social and a spiritual responsibility to our community to show up during this these instances.

Obviously, there's not there's not words that can bring comfort, but all as a church that we can share is that our only comfort is the Lord and that he has a plan.

And that plan is of hope and of the future.

Our hearts are with the families, our hearts with our city.

Our hearts are with, you know, LCPD.

And now is left to really sort this out.

So really, the heart behind these vigils was to come together and pray.

Pray for the community, families affected and for LCPD.

This really affected my heart, and it affected my heart in a way that, we are responsible for our community should be able to show up and show up in force for support for Las Cruces, even if people were involved and weren't there.

There's always a sense of insecurity, a sense of fear.

So even that overcoming that as a community, we have a lot of a lot of work ahead of us.

{Singing} Come on sing this part together.

{Singing} And I know that faith is one of the principal drivers of how we do good in this world, how we can do good in our families, how to do good in our schools, how we do good in our community.

And as we reflect on the tragedy that happened here in Las Cruces and reflect on the values that each all have in our own families.

I hope that this goes further beyond tonight's celebrations, that you can continue to communicate a message of hope and a message of opportunity for all of the youth here in Las Cruces.

I mean, because I grew up right here on the frontera, on the border land and it's very important to me.

So for all the young people, when you see something that's wrong, when you see something that shoulnt be happening por favor (Please) please make sure that you report it.

Please make sure that you follow your faith, that they can follow your family, and that you keep other people safe.

Because what happened this weekend is a terrible tragedy.

It should have never happened.

And so think about your parents.

Think about your family, and think about everybody who's done everything to get you to where you are today.

To bring hope for people to know that we are not living in a hopeless place, but a place that there's loved ones that are wanting to come alongside those that are maybe unsure, or those that are feeling anxious or a little weary on what's going on and say, as we stand as God's people, he will bring great and amazing hope to our city.

First and foremost, I felt a sense of anxiousness for family members because I also have children.

I have a 14-year old and a 12-year old.

I'm a part of Heart for the World Church, and we also have a large youth group.

So with our large youth group, it immediately drew me to who's there immediately to begin to pray for those that have to be knowing my child is there and I have a loved one there, and I'm hoping that they're okay.

So immediately started to pray for their hearts.

I just really want to just share the love that we have for God's people.

And that's our entire city to know that first responders, to know that law enforcement to know that our government agencies that first and foremost, we're lifting them up in prayers, are trying to sift through as they're trying to seek wisdom, to be able to help us walk through this and that.

We know that with God, all things are possible.

Thank you for watching Fronteras, A Changing America and thank you for supporting local programing like this.

You can watch episodes of this program and all our local programing at KRWG dot org.