Police are searching for a missing 10-month-old girl believed to have been kidnapped by the same person who fatally shot two women and critically wounded a 5-year-old girl in Clovis, New Mexico.
An Amber Alert was issued for the baby, Eleia Maria Torres, on Friday as cops sought the killer of Samantha Cisneros and Taryn Allen, both age 23 and from Texico, N.M.
A 911 call at about 4:30 p.m. Friday alerted police to the presence of the two bodies in Ned Houk Park, about five miles north of the 38,000-population city of Clovis. They found the two women dead of gunshot wounds and a 5-year-old child covered in blood, with a gunshot wound to the head. All of them were sprawled on the ground near a minivan. The girl was rushed to a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, about 100 miles southeast.
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Police also discovered an infant car seat inside the van, along with an infant stroller and a small baby bottle at the scene.
“Through interviews with family members, investigators learned Samantha Cisneros was the mother to the young female child found at the scene and was also the mother to a 10-month-old child, Eleia Maria Torres,” police said in a statement. “Investigators believe Eleia Maria Torres has been abducted by the perpetrator of this crime and is in immediate danger.”
Police described Eleia as 28 inches tall and weighing 23 pounds, with brown eyes and hair.
“There is currently no suspect in this incident,” New Mexico State Police said. “However, it is suspected the suspect was in a possible maroon Honda car, unknown model.”
New Mexico police issued an Amber Alert Sunday for missing a 10-month-old baby. The incident was part of a deadly shooting and suspects remain at large. Photo courtesy of Clovis Police Department.
May 5 (UPI) — Police in rural New Mexico continued to search for a missing 10-month-old girl Sunday after officials said the infant was abducted amid a mass shooting on Friday in the town of Clovis.
Authorities issued an Amber Alert for the missing child Eleia Maria Torres, on Friday, and it was still active as of Sunday morning.
Police in Clovis said the baby went missing when two women were found dead with apparent gunshot wounds. The dead women included the child’s mother. The relationship of the other woman was not immediately known.
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The mother’s 5-year-old child was also shot and suffered a head injury. She was treated locally and then transported to a regional hospital in Lubbock, Texas, where officials said she is recovering.
“It is with a heavy heart that I stand before you today to address the tragic incident that unfolded at Ned Houk Park on Friday,” Deputy Chief of Clovis Police Trevor Thron said during an update Sunday, providing as many details as he could about on the missing infant and the suspect, or suspects, who remain at large.
The missing baby has brown eyes and brown hair, measures 28 inches tall and weighs 23 pounds, according to officials.
“Our hearts are with the victim and her family during this incredibly difficult time,” Thron said. “And we fervently hope for swift and complete recovery.”
Thron reported the suspect’s identity remains unknown as do the motives for the shootings. Thron said the suspect may have been in a maroon Honda. He said Sunday that investigators found a small piece of maroon debris at the scene but that “we cannot be certain if it was part of the incident.
The Ancestral Puebloans in New Mexico once called an area on Pajarito Plateau in the Jemez Mountains home. In 1916, the federal government designated it part of the national park system and christened it Bandelier National Monument in order to preserve the Native American archeological sites there.