Shiprock man arrested in June drive-by shooting

LOS ANGELES

After a seven-month-long investigation, the FBI on Jan. 24 arrested a Shiprock man who fired three shots last June into a Shiprock residence while three people were inside.

Quincee David Zohnnie now faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon and use of a firearm in a crime of violence. He is currently being held in custody by the U.S. Marshal’s Office in Albuquerque.

According to court records, Zohnnie had a vendetta against M.Y., 27. He made several threats on his Facebook page saying he was going to get back at him for giving his name to the FBI in a separate matter.

The Navajo police first became aware of the situation on June 14. M.Y. and another man were sitting outside M.Y.’s house when, according to M.Y., Zohnnie and another man drove up in dark-colored vehicle.

Zohnnie was sitting in the front passenger seat. Zohnnie reportedly called out to the two men “You guys wanna get shot?” M.Y. and Zohnnie then allegedly got into a verbal altercation after which Zohnnie drove away, saying as he left, “I know where you live.”

M.Y. told police after Zohnnie drove away, he and his friend decided to take a walk. As he walked away, he saw the dark-colored sedan in front of his house and then heard two shots before the sedan sped away.

M.Y. told police his father, sister and six-year-old niece were in the house when the shots were fired. His sister later told police that she was in the living room watching television when she heard two or three shots and became scared.

Police later interviewed the driver of the sedan who said after that initial altercation, he and Zohnnie drove to Zohnnie’s father house where Zohnnie was living and picked up Zohnnie’s 9 mm handgun. They then drove back to M.Y.’s house. He added that they believed M.Y. was inside the house when the shots were fired.

The FBI was alerted by police of the situation on June 15 and on Aug. 3 FBI agents attempted to interview Zohnnie who was being held in the Farmington City Jail on another matter. Zohnnie refused to talk to them.

On the same day the FBI tried to talk to him, Zohnnie sent a message from his Facebook page to M.Y.’s Facebook page calling him a fool and snitch, telling him he would get him before he went down for the shooting.

The FBI issued a subpoena against the officers of Facebook and got copies of Zohnnie’s Facebook page which showed that he sent messages to a friend’s Facebook page saying he had to hide his handgun because of “snitches.”

He also replied to another Facebook friend saying it looked like he would be “facing federal time.”

In other messages to other friends, he said he was looking at a long prison sentence, maybe as long as 10 years. The messages he sent to friends beginning in August and continuing through the rest of the year indicated he expected to be arrested at any time.

Shiprock man gets 15 years for murder

LOS ANGELES – A Shiprock man who pled guilty to murdering another Shiprock man has been sentenced to spend 15 years in a federal prison.

Zachariah Stanley Joe, 29, was arrested on Jan. 3, 2019 in connection with the stabbing death of a 33-year-old man identified in court records only as B.M.M. The court records indicate that there were several witnesses to the altercation between the two men.

One of the witnesses said he was drinking alcohol with B.M.M. the afternoon he was killed. The drinking took place at the witness’s home near the That’s-a-burger Restaurant in Shiprock. In the early evening hours Joe had texted him saying he was leaving his job at Burger King and wanted to come over.

He arrived a little latter “intoxicated and extremely upset”, according to the report, about being fired that day from his job. He continued to complain about losing his job throughout the evening, said the witness, and at one point stuck B.M.M. across the face, knocking him into a wood-burning stove and then onto the floor. He said Joe started heading for B.M.M. again planning to continue the beating but the witness said before he got there, the witness intervened, punching Joe in the face several times.

The witness said he then wrestled Joe to the ground, giving B.M.M. time to leave the residence. He said Joe then locked the door with him inside and B.M.M. and the witness outside.

The witness said he then heard a lot of noises coming from inside his house indicating Joe was searching his kitchen cabinet drawers by opening them in a violent manner. The witness said he was so upset that his house had been invaded that he ran to Joe’s house nearby and broke a window.

When he got back to his house, he said he saw Joe standing over B.M.M.’s body. He said two other people showed up a little later to take B.M.M. to the hospital. A little later the police arrived and arrested him for breaking the window at Joe’s house.

One of the persons who took B.M.M. to the hospital told FBI agents later that he was driving with a friend when they saw Joe beating up B.M.M. He said he saw Joe standing and kicking B.M.M. while he was on the ground.

He said he got out of his car and approached Joe and pushed him back. He said he observed B.M.M. to be unresponsive and then heard Joe say something like B.M.M. had been stabbed. As the two were putting B.M.M. into their car, they realized that B.M.M. Was bleeding under his many layers of clothes.

Later when police searched the residence for evidence, they found that the wood-burning stove had been knocked off its base. They also discovered that one of the kitchen knives was missing.

In his plea agreement, Joe admitted he had stabbed B.M.M. in “callous and wanton disregard for human life.”  According to court records, B.M.M. had been stabbed 10 times in the chest and neck. He died shortly after he reached the hospital.

Joe was arrested that night and charged with murder. In the plea agreement, he pled guilty to second-degree murder.

FBI seeks help in woman’s death

ALBUQUERQUE – The FBI and Zuni Police Department are seeking the public’s assistance in finding the person or persons responsible for the death of Jolynn Marie Calavaza.

Calavaza’s body was found in a vacant lot on Zuni Pueblo on May 4, 2020.

An autopsy determined Calavaza, of Zuni Pueblo, had died of multiple stab wounds.

Calavaza was 46 years old. She had black hair, hazel eyes, weighed approximately 169 pounds, and was 5’4’’ tall.

Anyone with information about this death is asked to contact the FBI at 505-889-1300 or tips.fbi.gov.