Suspected gunman in Fort Defiance arrested

FORT DEFIANCE

Navajo Nation Police have arrested a suspect in possession of firearms and narcotics.

The male suspect had been on the loose here for several hours in the neighborhood of Black Rock Acres and Rio Puerco housing.

This is according to Deswood Tome, chief of staff to Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly, who issued media alerts about the suspect being arrested at approximately 5:20 p.m. this evening.

The arrest of the suspect, who had been on the loose since about 12 p.m. today, also reopened the neighborhoods of Black Rock Acres and Rio Puerco Housing. The neighborhoods had been on lock down for several hours, along with schools within the Window Rock Unified School District.

Earlier today, Tome said that Navajo police received a call about a suspected shooter firing at a Navajo Tribal Utility Authority employee. The active shooter, male subject, is hiding out in the Rio Puerco housing area, Tome said at that time, adding that residents at both Rio Puerco and Black Rock housing areas needed to stay indoors.

At approximately 1:25 p.m. Tome said, “The police are down in this portion of the neighborhood. More backup is on their way.”

That backup included the Navajo Criminal Investigations team, Crownpoint Police District, Window Rock Police District, Apache County Sheriffs and the Arizona Department of Public Safety. In addition, the Navajo Nation Fire Department and security from the Window Rock Unified School District diverted traffic during the search.

Tome said that Navajo Nation Police Captain Bobby Etsitty in charge of the investigation.
“Nobody is hurt,” Tome added.

According to Rex Kontz, deputy general manager for NTUA, he is 99 percent sure that a NTUA employee was not involved in today’s shooting at Fort Defiance.

“We have a utility operations center where everybody checks in by radio. We received no reports of anyone being shot at,” Kontz said, adding that they had all supervisors and managers confirm with their field staff that all field staff had checked in.

“No one reports any shots fired,” Kontz said. “We’re going through the process of checking everyone in our offices.”

Kontz’ statement comments come after preliminary reports indicated the suspect had shot his firearm at an NTUA employee.

This reported shooting in the Fort Defiance area is the second incident to occur in the Navajo Nation this week.

On Wednesday, Navajo Technical University in Crownpoint, N.M., was also on lockdown, after an armed student barricaded himself in the student housing on campus. No one was hurt in this incident, according to Shelly spokesman Rick Abasta.

---