Las Cruces, NM, threatened by gunman.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/16/national/main2015538.shtml

Las Cruces police are warning residents that someone threatened to randomly shoot people if city leaders failed to hand over what they described as a "substantial" ransom.

The city received the second of two threatening letters Friday afternoon, but police remained tightlipped about details of the demand, including how much money was involved. They did say the demand called for a "substantial amount."

At a news conference late Friday, Lt. Randy Lara said he didn't want to alarm residents but he urged them to watch for any suspicious activity.

"The letter did reference that Las Cruces residents will be shot at random if the city didn't comply with the extortion," Lara said.

Saturday morning, Lara said police had gotten some responses from the public but that there had been no break in the case.

"Someone knows something out there, and hopefully this will generate more information for the case," Lara said.

The letter — the second sent to the city in recent weeks — was hand written with an unusual style of printing.

Las Cruces police activated extra resources, and the FBI, state police and Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office were helping with the investigation.

City, state and federal law enforcement were taking the threat seriously, Lara said, adding that law enforcement would be on heightened alert for an indefinite period. But he also cautioned that officials don't know the intentions of the writer.

"Frankly we still don't know if we are dealing with a hoax or not," Lara said Saturday. "But after the second correspondence we felt it was necessary to go ahead and put the information out there — with the caveat that people should still go about their daily business."

"We are prepared to do whatever it takes to keep citizens safe," Lara said Friday.

The decision to tell residents about the threat was weighed against the possibility of unnecessarily alarming residents.

"It has gotten to the point that it's more desirable that the public knows," Lara said. "It's better to have 80,000 pairs of eyes on this person or persons."

 

I bet the gun stores are going to love this. Better get guns and ammo while you can.

But from what I've always heard about New Mexico, the gunman maybe wanted to pick someplace else. These people shoot back.

 

Threatening letters, as in using the mail, for sure brings the feds in.

Let's hope it's a hoax.

Art

 

Hopefully this turns out to be a hoax... or if not, hopefully this idiot will be dispatched quickly.

And did any one else see that Fox news said Las Cruces, New Mexico.. but showed a map of Las Cruces, Mexico? Maybe they fixed it by now, but I thought it was anoying.

 

80,000 pairs of eyes and muzzles.

 

This is really interesting. No one here has heard anything about it at all.
Not on the local news.

Sam

 

I have to retract that.

My wife said "yeah I heard something about that somewhere"


Sam

 

Whoever it is...

This can never turn out good one way or another for HIM/THEM/HER hehe, anywho, eventually whoever it is will get caught and have to pay the consequences, and then they start whining and saying, "OH I'm SO sorry, I didn't mean to, I'm crazy, it was my other self that was telling me to do it..."

ANYWHO, I can't find any new newz about it, but I just picked up kids from school and teacher asked me if I had heard whoever it was struck at NMSU and downtown market, I don't see anything ANYWHERE about it.... so not sure what's going down.

thanks SB http://www.thehighroad.org/images/smilies/mad.gif