Football player kills teammate at New Year’s Eve party

LAS VEGAS, N.M. – The lives of two young men were forever changed after a hunting rifle was taken out during a New Year’s Eve party.

The Las Vegas community is shaken after one football player killed his teammate – with a gun he may have thought wasn’t loaded.

Teammates Joaquin Sanchez and Joshua Vigil were at a house party in Ribera when New Mexico State Police got a call about a shooting.

"When officers arrived on scene, they located a 17-year-old shooting victim. That victim was identified as Josh Vigil," said Lt. Mark Soriano with New Mexico State Police.

An arrest warrant shows they were partying at Sanchez’s house. Sanchez told police he had a couple beers and a couple shots before "getting agitated and angry" because some people were throwing garbage on the floor. He reportedly went to his parents’ room to grab a hunting rifle, pulled the bolt back four times, and believed it was unloaded before he pointed it at Vigil’s head and pulled the trigger.

Sanchez was arrested and is facing a second-degree murder charge. Police will continue to investigate who owned the gun and how it was accessed. The case will be prosecuted by the district attorney in Taos because of a conflict of interest in Las Vegas.

"We’re committed to learning the facts of what led up to the shooting," Soriano said.