Hobbs shooting
Police: Gang fight injures 5
HOBBS, N.M. A fight between two rival gangs turned into a violent shootout that injured five people early Saturday, Hobbs officer Michael Stone said.
Police arrested two men in connection to the shootings at the Diamond Lil's Lounge, 2600 N. Dal Paso St. Brian Alexander, 27, was charged with aggravated battery while Jimmy Savage Jr., 31, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a handgun in a licensed liquor establishment, being a felon in possession of a firearm, conspiracy and tampering with evidence, according to a news release Stone issued Saturday afternoon. Both were being held at the Hobbs City Jail, with a $5,000 bond for Alexander and bonds totaling $12,500 for Savage Jr.
The injured were Aubrey Savage, 24, Ebony Lee, 23, Shamus Wright, 26, Ben Swain, 28, and Jose Rivera, 26. Aubrey Savage and Jimmy Savage Jr. are brothers, Stone said.
According to the release, Hobbs police officers heard a report of shots being fired at Diamond Lil's at 1:22 a.m. Mountain Time. Stone said the officers were told that a shootout took place between the Bloods and the Crips gangs inside the bar and in the parking lot.
Of the five that were shot, Savage, Wright, Swain and Rivera were affiliated with one of the two gangs, Stone said. Savage and Alexander were both Bloods, he said.
It was not known if the shooting was an act of retaliation for the Labor Day shootout in Washington Park in South Hobbs.
The release stated all five victims were transported to the Lea Regional Medical Center in Hobbs, while Stone added in an interview that two of them were in the intensive care unit, even though Stone did not specify which two of the five required such care.
Lea risk manager Lisa Thompson, citing the HIPAA privacy act, declined to confirm or deny whether any of the victims were at the hospital Saturday and declined to release their conditions. HIPPA authorizes nursing supervisors or spokespeople to release general conditions on patients if a specific name is provided unless the patient explicitly requests for that information to remain private.
