Shots fired
SR 400 closed after man fires gun in vicinity of a deputy

By Darrel Beehner
Staff Writer

McKinley County Sheriff Investigator Merle Bates, left, scans the brush for a suspect who fired shots at a sheriff deputy Monday evening around mile marker seven on State Road 400 in Ft. Wingate. [Photo by Julie Peña/Independent]

FORT WINGATE — Law enforcement officers closed a portion of State Road 400 temporarily on Monday as they searched for a man who reportedly fired shots within 20 yards of a McKinley County sheriff's deputy.

However, officials suspect the man was aiming for a target in the road that was later discovered alongside spare cartridges, rather than the passing officer, Under Sheriff John Yearley, said on Tuesday morning.

More than a dozen officers from the McKinley County Sheriff's Department, Navajo Nation Police and New Mexico State Police searched an area just south of Fort Wingate near Mile Marker 7 on SR 400 after Sgt. Arthur Joe reported shots being fired within a close proximity to his vehicle at about 6 p.m.

Officers set up a road block near the horseshoe south of Fort Wingate and turned back traffic both residential and recreational trying to get into the McGaffey area. Personnel from Fort Wingate Fire and Rescue and Med Star ambulance were also positioned at the checkpoint.

Deputies at the checkpoint, many of whom were wearing bullet-proof vests, were tight-lipped as they waited to hear from other officers closer to the area where the incident took place.

"I can't really talk right now," said MCSD Investigator Merle Bates as he leaned against the open door of his SUV and scanned a deep ravine and surrounding hills east of SR 400 with binoculars.

Questions were deferred to Sgt. Benally of the MCSD, which was the lead organization in the investigation. Benally, however, was unavailable as he took part in the search for the suspect. Calls to his cell phone late Monday night were not answered.

As darkness fell, officers said they would probably pull back from the brush-covered slopes and ravines and secure the area to prevent the shooter from escaping.

Yearley said law enforcement closed a portion of State Road 400 to protect passers-by until they could determine the facts surrounding the alleged shooting.

He said the individual who was engaged in target practice as the deputy drove by, most likely fled the location when he saw police converge on the roadway. He said the individual could have been partaking in the area's hunting season, which is under way.

No arrests were made in connection with the incident. Yearley said Joe's unit sustained no damage from stray bullets and the surrounding roadways were reopened by about 8:30 p.m.

Among those at the staging area was Ken Poos, a station keeper with the U.S. Forest Service's district office near Fort Wingate. Poos said he was concerned because the shooting had taken place on Forest Service land.

"If it happens here, I need to be aware of it," he said, adding that he learned about the shooting not through normal channels, but by the high volume of law enforcement traffic in the area.

Forest Service law enforcement officers from the area had been sent to help out in hurricane-battered of the Southeast and were not involved in the search, Poos said.

Reporter Leslie Wood contributed to this report.