(Los Angeles) At least three people were killed and five others injured in a shooting Saturday night at a motorcycle rally in New Mexico, according to authorities confirming news reports.
“The perpetrators of the shooting have all been arrested”, assured without specifying their number the mayor of Red River, Linda Calhoun, in a video interview with the local media Questa Del Rio Newsconfirming the death toll provided by local media.
“No law enforcement personnel, no emergency room personnel were injured. No residents were injured,” she said, “it was an incident between gangs.” She did not indicate which gangs were allegedly involved.
The shooting happened around 5 p.m. local time (7 p.m. EST) as some 20,000 bikers gathered for the annual Memorial Day rally in Red River in Taos County.
According to the newspaper The Taos Newsa policeman described the incident at the centralization cell as “an ongoing shootout between [le club de moto] Banditos and someone else”.
A witness speaking to local ABC affiliate KOAT described the chaos that ensued in the crowd.
“There were people running around where we were standing shouting ‘they’re shooting over there’,” Eddie Cook said. “While everyone was running around me, I heard the gunshots.”
After the shooting, the mayor of Taos decreed a night curfew between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. local time, as well as a ban on the sale of alcohol, according to the Taos News.
In May 2015, a shootout between rival biker gangs in Waco, Texas, left nine people dead and 15 injured at a rally of bikers.