On August 28, 2017, a

mass shooting There is a lack of consensus on how to define a mass shooting. Most terms define a minimum of three or four victims of gun violence (not including the shooter or in an inner city) in a short period of time, although an Australian study from 200 ...

occurred at the Clovis-Carver Library, a public library in downtown

Clovis, New Mexico Clovis is a city in and the county seat of Curry County, New Mexico, Curry County, New Mexico. The city had a population of 37,775 as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, and a 2019 estimated population of 38,319. Clovis is located in th ...

, U.S. The gunman fatally shot two people and injured four others. He was identified as Nathaniel Jouett, a 16-year-old student at nearby Clovis High School.

Shooting

The suspect entered the library at 4:15 pm

MST The Master of Studies or Master in Studies (M.St. or MSt; ) is a postgraduate degree at the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of St Andrews, the Australian National University, University of Dublin and the University of Ne ...

on Monday, August 28, 2017, and went into the restroom. He began shooting shortly after he came out of the restroom. At the time of the shooting, it was unclear how many people were in the library and Jouett seemed to fire randomly as individuals and parents with children tried to flee. According to an eyewitness, the gunman entered the library and shot into the carpet, shouting “Run! Why aren’t you running? I’m shooting at you! Run!” before he began to move about the room shooting at people. Another witness claimed that Jouett looked happy, that "He was just laughing, smiling the whole time, until he came up real close to me, and then he put on that mean look." Police received multiple emergency calls. About 15 minutes after the first call came in, police received a call from the suspect's father, who told them that the suspect had taken his father's guns from the safe where they were kept, and left the house. The suspect surrendered immediately when police arrived; he did not struggle with the arresting officers. He told police that he had been planning an attack for a while, that he had intended to shoot up the school before killing himself.

Victims

Two people, Wanda Walters, 61, and Kristina Carter, 48, both library employees, were killed. Kristina Carter was the youth librarian and Wanda Walters worked at the circulation desk. Four people were wounded, who were identified as Howard Jones, 53, Jessica Thron, 30, Alexis Molina, 20, and Noah Molina, 10.

Legal proceedings

According to Public Radio station

KUNM KUNM is a public radio station broadcasting on FM 89.9 MHz from high atop Sandia Crest, with broadcasts originating from the third floor of Oñate Hall, on the campus of the University of New Mexico (UNM) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As of ...

, although the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

usually refrains from using the names of juvenile defendants, it chose to publish Nathaniel Jouett's name "because of the seriousness of the crime and because authorities are seeking adult sanctions." Curry County

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

Andrea Reeb announced prior to the trial that she intended to prosecute Jouett as an adult. The suspect made his first court appearance on August 31, 2017. Jouett was

indict An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of an ...

ed on September 8, 2017 for two counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of child abuse, four counts of

aggravated battery Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault which is the act of creating apprehension of such contact. Battery is a specific common law offense, although the term is used more generally to refer to ...

, and twenty counts of assault with intent to commit a violent

felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...

. In April 2018, a judge denied a defense request to transfer Jouett from prison to a juvenile treatment facility, and ordered that he undergo a mental "evaluation and assessment" so that his mental health needs could be addressed. On October 17, 2018, Jouett pleaded guilty in the shooting. On February 15, 2019, Jouett was sentenced to two life sentences, with the possibility of parole, plus 40 years in prison. Jouett is currently incarcerated in the

Lea County Correctional Center The Lea County Correctional Facility (LCCF) is a medium-security prison for men located four miles north-west of Hobbs, New Mexico, opened in 1998 on 60 acres of the former Hobbs Army Airfield, now adjacent to the Lea County Regional Airport. Th ...

References

{{Mass shootings in the United States in the 2010s 2017 in New Mexico 2017 mass shootings in the United States 2017 murders in the United States Attacks in the United States in 2017 August 2017 crimes in the United States Clovis, New Mexico Deaths by firearm in New Mexico Mass shootings in New Mexico Mass shootings in the United States Murder in New Mexico 2017 active shooter incidents in the United States