History of run-ins with law ends with robbery, murder charges

LOS ANGELES

Back in 2012, then 17-year-old Amber Yazzie stabbed a man because he was wearing gang colors, and began a life filled with incarcerations and arrests that ended earlier this month with new charges filed in state and federal courts dealing with an armed robbery and murder.

Yazzie, now 27, has been charged in state court with an open count of murder, one count of armed robbery, four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and one count of shooting at a dwelling.

Last week, federal charges of interference of commerce by threats and use of a firearm during a crime of violence were also filed against her.

Between 2017 and now, she had been arrested more than four times and at the time of the armed robbery and murder had failed to show up for a hearing held in state court stemming from assault charges filed against her in 2019.

Her contact with law enforcement began in April 2012 when she was arrested for the stabbing of Jesse Padilla. The incident led to deliberations in state court over whether she should be tried as an adult or a juvenile.

McKinley County District Attorney Karl Gillson urged the court to try her as an adult and put her away for 20 years because the killing showed a total disregard for human life.

According to the prosecution, Yazzie was walking east from the Rio West Mall when she met Padilla for the first time. She spent a little time with him and then stabbed him to death.

She later said she did it because he was wearing the wrong gang colors. The prosecution argued that he was not part of a gang.

She was originally tried as an adult, but she agreed to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter as a juvenile offender. She was placed in the juvenile system with plans for release when she turned 20 years old. She was later kept a year longer because of her behavior during the first three years of her incarceration.

In May 2018 she was convicted of one count of battery on a police officer and was sentenced to six months in prison.

Her most recent problems with the law began on Dec. 8 when Gallup police received a report of an armed robbery – at the C & R Insurance Company – committed by a female and two males.

One of the employees of the company later told FBI agents that she was helping a customer about 1:30 p.m. when she heard a pop and heard a female yelling at everyone to put their hands up and give her their money. She said the female then asked where the money was and the employee pointed to the cash drawer.

Video cameras at the company showed the three coming in wearing masks. The female was the only one who did any talking. One of the male suspects then took a bag out of his clothing and then began opening the drawers and putting the money in the bag. Once this was done all three ran out of the building.

Company officials said the robbers made off with more than $4,000. The FBI was told that Yazzie’s mother was a customer.

Yazzie became a prime suspect in the robbery when the cameras picked up a tattoo on the right hand of the female robber. The tattoo was clearly visible and the FBI agent who handled the case said he recognized the tattoo as one he saw on Yazzie’s hand when he interviewed her four months before on a different matter.

A warrant was issued for her arrest by a federal court judge. By the next day, however, Yazzie was being named as a person of interest in the killing of Russell Shark, 50, who was shot in the head during an argument with a female at his apartment.

At the time, witnesses at the scene of the killing said they saw Yazzie in the area but no one witnessed the actual shooting.

During the next three days, Gallup police and the FBI received tips from people who saw Yazzie in the area. In the early morning hours of Dec. 10, police received a tip that Yazzie was seen in a car with her brother, Gregory, 25.

This led to a high-speed pursuit by Gallup police, McKinley County sheriff deputies, Navajo Police, and state police.

Two attempts were made to use stop sticks to end the pursuit but the Yazzie vehicle was able to go around the sticks. A third attempt north of Gallup was successful.

The car turned north on Jack Johnson Road about 12 miles north of Gallup and then crashed. Police said Amber Yazzie then began running from the car and was captured after a brief pursuit.

Gregory Yazzie was arrested for fleeing from a police officer and now faces state charges. Amber Yazzie is currently in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service in Albuquerque.

The expectation is that she will be tried in federal court on the armed robbery charges and for murder in the state court.

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