Two dead after high-speed chase

SHIPROCK

Two suspects are dead after they led local police on a high-speed chase that started in Colorado and ended on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico on Monday afternoon.

The two suspects, a man and female, who have not yet been identified, were said to have fled Montezuma-Country Sheriffs after a gas skip. Reports began to circulate after the Navajo Times learned of local schools being put on lock down just before noon on Monday.

San Juan County Sheriff’s Office Detective Lt. Kyle Lincoln said they learned of the incident as the Montezuma County Sheriffs were in pursuit of a black Toyota 4Runner (with a Florida license plate).

“We were told that Montezuma County Sheriff’s Department was in pursuit out of Colorado and they had shots fired,” he said.

Lincoln said he was unsure of the time the call came in but that the Navajo Nation Police Department as well as Colorado State Colorado State Police Department both got involved.

“We had a Navajo police officer shot and a Montezuma County Deputy unit shot, the pursuit ended on the road we’re on now (Bluff Road),” Lincoln said.

In a statement released by the Office of Navajo Nation President and Vice President, Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly “commended the swift response by officers and said he was relieved no innocent people were hurt in the incident.”

Diné College put both of their Shiprock campuses on lockdown for about four hours. Shiprock Alternative Schools, Inc. also placed its campus on lockdown.

Lincoln said it is unclear the suspects made a stop or detour before coming to a halt.

The chase ended at the end of Bluff Road, which runs along the bank if a mesa. He said when the vehicle stopped it slid off the embankment. He said officers then asked the suspects to show their hands so they could call them out of the vehicle but there was no response.

“They approached the vehicle and broke out the passenger side window and found a male and female deceased in the vehicle,” Lincoln said.

Lincoln said when they opened the door on the driver’s side of the vehicle, the body of the male suspect rolled out while the female subject remained seat-belted in the passenger.

Lincoln said there was initial speculation of a third suspect, which confused the situation even more but that there was no concrete evidence to support it.

“We were originally told three suspects, everything that we’ve done back tracking all the way to Colorado (but) we can not prove a third suspect,” he said. “…We have nobody confirm(ing) that there was a third suspect.”

San Juan County Sheriffs Department took over the investigation when they found that the suspects appeared to be non-Native American.

Just before 3 p.m., the suspect vehicle was pulled up off the side of the embankment so the investigation could continue.

Lincoln said there is still a lot they don’t know and having the vehicle back on a flat surface will allow for them to continue the investigation.

“We’re still in the infancy of it,” he said.

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