Julia Clark, 19, female, was struck by a bullet during a gunfight that erupted at Salopek Park in Las Cruces on the afternoon of September 4, 2025. She had been driving a red Jeep that stopped on the 400 block of Salopek Boulevard, where a white Chrysler 300 boxed the vehicle in and armed men confronted the Jeep's occupants. A nearby witness and one of the survivors told police shots were exchanged between people from the Jeep and the Chrysler; Clark was found slumped over the wheel with a head
wound. She was airlifted from Las Cruces to University Medical Center in El Paso and died two days later. A 19-year-old man who was with her survived with a non-life-threatening leg wound.
According to investigative summaries and later-released body-camera footage, an officer and a Good Samaritan worked frantically through the driver's window to compress the wound and keep Clark breathing before medics transported her. The footage, released weeks later, underscored how quickly the ambush devolved into chaos and how Clark's faint breathing faded as help arrived.
Police and court documents describe the shooting as the violent collapse of a planned robbery. Text messages recovered by investigators indicated Clark had coordinated with others to lure two men—one identified by police as Apolinar Rosales—to the park after a gun purchase in Anthony, Texas. One alleged accomplice waited in the bushes while others in the Chrysler were poised to pin in the Jeep. When the plan unraveled, gunfire broke out; a witness saw a man from the Jeep fire at the Chrysler as it fled.
Detectives arrested Rosales on September 6, 2025, and charged him with voluntary manslaughter, tampering with evidence, unlawful carrying of a gun by a person under 19, and resisting or obstructing. In a detailed account filed in court, investigators said shell-casing locations and the position of Clark's wound indicated that the round Rosales fired from in front of the Jeep was the one that struck her. Police emphasized the investigation was ongoing and that additional suspects were at large.
Days later, officers arrested 18-year-old Elijah Sambrano, who—according to police—admitted he was among the shooters from the Chrysler and claimed he fired back in self-defense. He was booked on aggravated battery that may cause death or great bodily harm, armed robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and tampering with evidence. A third suspect, 19-year-old Esteban Muñoz, was subsequently taken into custody on charges of armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.
Clark's death was confirmed by the city and local outlets in the days after the shooting, and memorial listings recorded that she was lost to gun violence stemming from the September 4 attack, with her passing on September 6 at the hospital in El Paso. The case, which began as an alleged gun-theft ambush, now centers on the competing accounts of those present, ballistics and phone evidence gathered by detectives, and the charges lodged against the three men arrested.
