Stand off
Couple robbed at gunpoint inside home

By Leslie Wood
Staff writer

GALLUP — A 53-year-old Gallup man wanted in connection with an armed robbery surrendered to police at 4:15 this morning following a lengthy stand off with members of the Gallup Police Department’s tactical team.

Robert Martinez was booked into the McKinley County Adult Detention Center on a charge of armed robbery for his alleged role in a robbery Sunday at a residence of Sam Chavez, located on the 800 Block of South Sixth St., Deputy Police Chief John Allen, a spokesman for the Gallup Police Department, said.

Martinez reportedly walked into the residence around 9 p.m., and demanded the homeowner pay him an undisclosed amount of money that was owed to him. Martinez was accompanied by an unidentified man who was armed with a shotgun. The homeowner knew Martinez, but was not able to identify the second man.

During the robbery, the second, unidentified man reportedly aimed the shotgun at the head of the homeowner’s girlfriend.
“They told them they weren’t messing around,” Allen said of the pair’s threats to the couple.

The homeowner complied with Martinez’s demand and gave him an undisclosed amount of cash before he and his accomplice fled the scene in a Pontiac Grand Prix.

Allen said police later found the vehicle parked outside another residence at 715 1/2 W. Aztec Ave.

Officers knocked on the residence’s door, but were ignored.

The police department’s SWAT team was subsequently called to the scene and led negotiations for Martinez’s surrender until about 4:15 a.m. when he gave up peacefully.
Allen said the second man involved in the robbery has not been apprehended. Allen said officers have not been able to confirm what was the motive for the crime. The weapon used in the incident has not been recovered.

Anyone with information about the robbery, is asked to call the Gallup Police Department at (505) 863-9365.