Where the Young Park shooting case stands — for the singular adult defendant
The criminal case against the lone adult charged in the Young Park shooting remains in pretrial status, with court records outlining charges, custody status and what comes next.
Damien Willis, Organ Mountain News
LAS CRUCES - Nearly a year after a mass shooting at Young Park left three people dead and multiple others injured, the criminal case against the sole adult defendant remains active in Third Judicial District Court, though it has moved largely out of public view and into the slower, procedural stages of the justice system.
Court records show Tomas Rivas, 21, remains in custody without bond as prosecutors pursue first-degree murder charges tied to the March 21, 2025, shooting, which resulted in the highest number of casualties in a mass shooting in New Mexico history.
The charges
A Doña Ana County grand jury indicted Rivas on April 2, 2025, charging him with:
- Three counts of first-degree murder, alleged alternatively as willful and deliberate murder or depraved-mind murder, in connection with the deaths of Dominick Estrada, Andrew Madrid and Jason Gomez
- Three counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder
The indictment replaced earlier open murder counts filed in magistrate court and formally moved the case into District Court.
Rivas was arraigned April 7, 2025, before Judge Douglas R. Driggers.
Custody status
Rivas has remained incarcerated at the Doña Ana County Detention Center since his arrest on March 23, 2025. Jail records list no bond, reflecting the state’s successful effort to keep him detained while the case proceeds.
Prosecutors filed an expedited motion for pretrial detention under Rule 5-409, arguing that no conditions of release could reasonably protect public safety. In that motion, the state cited the scale of the alleged violence, the use of firearms in a crowded public space and what it described as strong evidence tying Rivas to the shootings.
What prosecutors allege
According to the criminal complaint and statement of probable cause, police allege that two groups became involved in a confrontation at Young Park shortly after 10 p.m. on March 21, 2025. Investigators say the dispute escalated into a gunfight involving multiple firearms and multiple shooters, with rounds fired into a crowd gathered at the park.
Police allege that Rivas fired multiple shots, killing three people. Investigators relied on eyewitness statements, surveillance footage and forensic evidence, including shell casings recovered at the scene that were later matched to firearms police say were recovered during the investigation.
Those allegations have not been proven in court. Rivas has pleaded not guilty.
Where the case is now
Since arraignment, the case has moved through a series of pretrial proceedings:
- Status conferences were held in May, August and October 2025
- A motion hearing was held Nov. 21, 2025
- A pretrial conference was scheduled for Jan. 26, 2026, then vacated
- A jury trial was scheduled for February 2026, then later vacated
Court records do not explain why the February trial dates were removed from the calendar. In complex homicide cases, vacated trial settings often reflect unresolved pretrial motions, discovery issues or other litigation that must be addressed before a case can proceed to trial.
As of now, no new trial date has been set.
The juvenile cases
Three juvenile defendants were also charged in connection with the shooting. On March 25, 2025, the District Attorney’s Office announced that all three juveniles were ordered held in custody after a judge found clear and convincing evidence they posed a serious risk to themselves and the community.
Under New Mexico law, juvenile cases are governed by different confidentiality rules and do not appear on public court dockets in the same way as adult criminal cases. As a result, far less information is publicly available about the current status of those proceedings.
The bigger picture
While public attention around the Young Park shooting has faded, the adult criminal case remains unresolved and firmly in a pretrial phase. Rivas remains jailed without bond as the court continues to work through the legal process that precedes any trial.
For now, the question is not whether the case has gone away, but how long it will take to move from the procedural middle toward a resolution that plays out in open court.
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