On the morning of February 10, 1990, Stephanie Senac, 34, was managing the Las Cruces Bowl when two armed men described as Hispanic entered through an unlocked door. Senac was in her office with her 12-year-old daughter Melissia Repass, Melissia’s 13-year-old friend Amy Houser, and snack bar cook Ida Holguin. The gunmen forced Senac to open the safe and stole $4,000 to $5,000 before the bowling alley’s mechanic, Steven Teran, arrived with his daughters Valerie, 2, and Paula, 6, and inadvertently walked into the office.

The assailants opened fire, shooting all seven people multiple times and then setting the office on fire. Amy Houser, Steven Teran, and Paula Teran were pronounced dead at the scene; Valerie Teran was taken to hospital and later died. Senac, Melissia, and Holguin survived the initial attack. Melissia, who had been shot five times, managed to call 911.

Stephanie Senac lived with injuries and complications from the shooting for nine years and died on August 1, 1999, at age 43 from those injuries. The two men responsible have not been identified and no arrests have been announced.