Local News

There was a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday for the Los Alamos High School Memorial Garden. The formal dedication presented the newly completed garden to the high school students and the families, who had lost loved ones at much too early an age.  

Los Alamos Public Schools Superintendent Gene Schmidt said the memorial garden is intended to be a quiet place for students, family and friends to gather in remembrance of the students, whose names are listed on a wall.

In his remarks, Schmidt thanked the Rotary Club of Los Alamos for making the garden possible.  He said the place is for families to walk and remember, as well as sit and reflect on the memory of their loved ones.

Rotary Club President Linda Hull spoke of the three years of fundraising and preparation that made the garden possible. She mourned the passing of all of the students named there and expressed the hope that no more names would be added.

High school principal Sandy Warnock said, “This garden reminds us of how precious life is. This is a garden that will forever be a place to remember those who left us too early.”

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office has issued an arrest warrant for a suspect in a Christmas night shooting that left two men dead.

Sheriff's officials say 18-year-old Joe C. Rivera is wanted in connection with the double homicide case.

Authorities were searching for Rivera on Wednesday night and say he should be considered armed and dangerous.

The shooting occurred about 11 p.m. Tuesday in the Valle Vista Subdivision in Santa Fe County.

Deputies say 23-year-old John Griego was pronounced dead at the scene while 29-year-old Nicholas Baker was pronounced dead on arrival at Christus St. Vincent's Hospital. They say both men suffered fatal gunshot wounds.

WEBSTER, N.Y. (AP) — The ex-con who lured two firefighters to their deaths in a blaze of gunfire left a rambling typewritten note saying he wanted to burn down the neighborhood and "do what I like doing best, killing people," police said Tuesday as they recovered burned human remains believed to be the gunman's missing sister.

Police Chief Gerald Pickering said 62-year-old William Spengler, who served 17 years in prison for the 1980 hammer slaying of his grandmother, armed himself with a revolver, a shotgun and a military-style rifle before he set his house afire to lure first responders into a death trap before dawn on Christmas Eve.

"He was equipped to go to war, kill innocent people," Pickering said.

The rifle he had was a military-style .223-caliber semiautomatic Bushmaster rifle with flash suppression, the same make and caliber weapon used in the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., Pickering said.

The chief said police believe the firefighters were hit with shots from the rifle given the distance but the investigation was incomplete.