Bullet holes in pickup, 1 wounded: What happened?

Navajo Times

WINDOW ROCK, March 11, 2010

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Navajo Nation police officers are still trying to determine exactly what happened in Nazlini, Ariz., on March 6.

They have a Nissan pickup with three bullet holes. They have three men, one with a bullet wound to the arm. And they have three confessions.

What they don't have is the person who shot at the car and wounded Christopher Upshaw, no age given, of St. Michaels.

Upshaw and two other men - Emerson Preston, 30, of Cornfields, Ariz., and James Tso Jr., 21, of St. Michaels - were stopped by a tribal police officer near Cross Canyon after a "be on the lookout" was given by police dispatchers.

When he stopped the car, the officer immediately saw the bullet holes and Upshaw with a bullet wound to his right bicep. He also saw that all three men appeared to be intoxicated.

The three were taken to the Window Rock detention facility where they all "confessed," according to the police report, of going to a residence in the Nazlini area - no location given - where they planned to confront a man they called "Gerald."

It seemed Gerald had thrown rocks at Upshaw's family a couple of days before and had damaged the Upshaw vehicle. While at the Nazlini residence, Upshaw said he broke the windows of a car in the yard, which resulted in someone from the residence rushing out of the door and chasing them, first on foot and then in a vehicle.

Shots were fired and it was then that the Nissan, which belonged to Preston, sustained the bullet wounds and Upshaw the arm injury.

Police said they also uncovered a .357 revolver and three baseball bats in the pickup. The case is still under investigation.



Police wonder if anyone was in burned building

Was there someone in that old Ranger station near the Yei-Bi-Chei grounds in Shiprock when it burned to the ground about 7:40 p.m. on March 7?

That's what tribal police and firefighters were wondering after being told by witnesses at the scene that earlier that day they saw a man with a backpack enter the building. Neither saw him come out.

The ranger station had been abandoned for years and although it was fenced in, it had become in recent years, a popular place for the homeless to sneak into to keep warm and to sleep in.

After putting out the fire - but not before the trailer was totally destroyed - fire fighters searched the charred remains but could not find any traces of a body.

Jumbo gets 4 years for assault

PHOENIX - Wayne Jumbo, 27, of Ganado, Ariz., was sentenced to four years in prison for assaulting his uncle, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Jumbo pleaded guilty Nov. 5 to assault with a dangerous weapon.

On Dec. 11, 2008, Jumbo got into an argument with his uncle, 45, then stabbed him in the upper left arm with a knife. As a result of the stabbing, the victim sustained significant nerve and muscle damage to his left arm that required surgery.

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