Gun shots fired in Ganado

Apache County Sheriff SWAT Team members prepare to enter Ganado, Ariz. on Saturday morning after a Navajo Police Officer was conducting a routine traffic stop and he heard gunshots ring out. The entire city of Ganado was evacuated and a man hunt began. [Photo by Matt Hinshaw/Independent]

By Karen Francis
Staff writer

GANADO — A suspect who reportedly shot at Navajo Nation and Apache County law enforcement officers on Saturday morning was still at large Sunday evening.

A source with the Navajo Department of Public Safety said that officers had conducted several interviews but a suspect had not been identified yet.

The shooting prompted Navajo Nation law enforcement to evacuate nearby residents and close all roads leading into the Ganado community, including Highway 264, until nearly 2 p.m. on Saturday.

The officers were reportedly responding to a call that came into the Navajo police department at 7:32 a.m. that shots were being fired on the east side of Ganado.

Officer Wally Whitegoat of the Navajo Police Department said that one Navajo Nation officer and two Apache County officers came in close contact with an individual who fired in their direction.

Numerous officers from both the Navajo Nation and the county were in Ganado all day Saturday searching for the suspect. On Sunday, several officers from both agencies were still investigating the crime. Navajo DPS was expected to meet on the incident Monday morning.

On Saturday, Whitegoat said that canine units were being deployed and that the Department of Public Safety was sending in a helicopter from Flagstaff .

“We’re going to have them scan the area,” he said.

Personnel from various agencies redirected traffic on Saturday morning telling people that no one was allowed in to Ganado. Many organizations assisted the police department with keeping people out and evacuating nearby residents, including Arizona Department of Transportation, Ganado Fire Department, park rangers, school and hospital security officers and special response teams from Chinle and Window Rock.

Despite the extra resources and manpower, as of Sunday evening Navajo police officers were still searching. However, most residents in Ganado had barely heard about the shooting and had no idea about what happened.
Two women getting ready for an event at the chapter house on Sunday said they were not worried about the incident. The only effect it had on them was causing them to reroute their normal routine when the roads were shut down.

On the other hand, some people said they did not feel safe knowing a suspected shooter was on the loose.

One resident of Nazlini said he was picking up trash for the Ganado Lake clean up on Saturday morning when that area was evacuated.

“I don’t know if I feel safe because they said they didn’t know where he [the suspected shooter] was,” he said.

The lack of information available to the public was evident with few Ganado residents knowing anything except that they had to use alternate routes on Saturday because roads were closed due to a shooting incident. With the Navajo DPS releasing very little information due to ongoing investigation, rumors were circulating around town.

The department did say that there have been no reported injuries in the incident.

Two women in the Ganado community said they had barely heard about the shooting incident and were not even sure if a suspect had been apprehended.

“Right now we don’t even know if the guy’s caught or not,” one of the women said. She said she did not feel safe after hearing about the shooting.

Another woman working for Safe Ride Services in Ganado agreed, saying that there are times when the woman drivers had to call police to escort them to their vehicles in the mornings when they arrive to work. At times an officer is not available and the drivers have to rely on security from the hospital or school to help them.

“Us ladies are afraid,” she said.

“I think the Navajo tribe needs to hire more police officers,” she added. “We usually only have one officer that covers the Ganado community.”

Covering the Ganado area means also covering the nearby chapters, some of which are more than 20 miles from Ganado. However, the situation of having only one police officer covering a large region is not unusual throughout the reservation.

According to Public Safety Committee Chairperson Hope MacDonald LoneTree, there are only 0.5 police officers for every 1,000 people on the Navajo reservation. In October 2006, officials from the Navajo Department of Public Safety said there were only 243 police officers on the road, not including criminal investigation and recruits, serving an area covering 27,000-square miles.