On New Year’s Eve 2021, 17-year-old Joshua Vigil was shot and killed during a party at a home at 8 El Gasnate in Riberia, New Mexico. The New Mexico State Police say an altercation between Vigil and an 18-year-old classmate, Joaquin Sanchez, escalated and Sanchez discharged a firearm. Officers from the Las Vegas Uniform Bureau arrived about 10:21 p.m. and found Vigil deceased; the Office of the Medical Investigator pronounced him dead at the scene.

Sanchez, who owned the house where the gathering took place, was taken into custody without incident and booked into the San Miguel County Detention Center. He was charged with second-degree murder and negligent use of a deadly weapon. The New Mexico State Police Investigations Bureau led the inquiry, and the case has been moved for trial outside the immediate community.

Anyone who attended the party or has information about the events that led to the shooting is asked to share what they know.