NHA offices evacuated after threat
Worker allegedly upset by break up of family

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

FORT DEFIANCE — A Navajo Housing Authority worker, reportedly under duress from a breakup of his family, allegedly made threats to his supervisor last Friday and, as a result, was greeted Monday morning by Navajo Police after the NHA building in Window Rock was evacuated.

The employee was not named because he had not broken any laws.

NHA Chief Executive Officer Leon Porter said a series of events involving the employee had unfolded over the last week, and as a result, managers decided to take extra precautions.

"We wanted to protect our staff and employees here from a situation like Columbine or Red Lake, where someone kind of went off. We were just being extra cautious under a situation that we knew was at hand.

"We put together a plan and the employees executed it exceptionally well. There was a little nervousness and apprehension, but I think everything's back to business," he said Monday afternoon. "Everybody's kind of saying, 'Whooo! that was a big scare.' "

Porter said managers got together a couple weeks back, about the same time the Red Lake shootings occurred, and decided they needed to have an evacuation and emergency plan.

"We were in the process of getting all that put together. But this morning it came to the situation where we said, 'We're going to execute this to see how it works,' and just took some extra precautionary measures over this situation and just more or less executed a drill," he said.

Though NHA managers didn't know for sure whether the employee would show up, they went through the emergency evacuation plan with staff to make sure everybody was on the same page.

"He did show up, we evacuated the building, made sure that we had security here, made sure he was not armed or dangerous, and then proceeded to visit with him," Porter said.

"We indicated that we were concerned about the issues and things that were going on, and that we had to take measures to protect our people here, that basically we were dealing with him in the best way possible."

The employee was not intoxicated and was not carrying any weapons when he arrived at NHA, according to Porter.

"He wanted to present his side of the story on what was going on. He did have a written statement that we accepted. We sat down and interviewed him and told him that because of all these things, this is where we're at."

Due to the man's home situation, Porter said, managers knew he was in a "fragile state of mind," and they were unsure where that might lead. "When someone said, 'I'm going to get revenge,' we said, 'We've got to take steps to make sure that our staff here is not vulnerable to a fit of rage.' "

NHA is moving forward with termination, according to Porter, "because it has been an ongoing issue. It's due to situations at home that have spilled over into the workplace. His wife and kids are no longer there and he's distraught."

Porter said Navajo Nation Police were called Monday morning and made aware of what was going on. When the employee showed up, police were notified.

"They came right directly behind him. We had security here at the building when he showed up. We had taken the steps to have a security force in place to make sure everybody was protected if anything should happen."

Porter said other reservation businesses and organizations also might want to develop an emergency plan so workers know how to respond in case the situation isn't a drill.