Basketball shooter ID'ed
Attempted murder suspect named:
police search under way

Jeffery Adakai

By Gaye Brown de Alvarez
Staff writer

GALLUP — Gallup police are seeking any information on the whereabouts of Jeffery L. Adakai, 19, wanted in connection with the attempted homicide at the Indian Hills basketball courts on Friday, June 27.

There is a warrant out for Adakai for attempted murder of victim Cooper Curley “and various other charges,” Detective John Yearley of the Gallup Police Department said. Robbery is one of the other charges, Yearley said, because before he shot the victim he said “Cooper, where’s my money.”

Adakai is a known narcotic trafficker, police said, and deals in marijuana, ecstasy, and hydrocodone, a pain drug. He was last seen in the Stagecoach area, and police think he is still in the area because he does not have a driver’s license and did not leave on a bus.

“He’s almost legally blind,” Yearley said. “He only has an ID card, no driver’s license.”

The shooting started when people were playing basketball at the Indian Hills basketball courts at about 11:30 p.m., when an argument about money escalated into a shooting when one on the men subsequently shot Curley in the abdomen and ankle with a .38-caliber pistol. Curley was taken to GIMC for treatment.

Police later found the pistol hidden in a mailbox in the Indian Hills neighborhood.

Adakai was last seen in the Stagecoach area, wearing a white hoodie and dark jeans. He is 5 feet tall, weighs about 105 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes. He always has sunglasses on or on top of his head due to his eye problems. He is thought to be armed with an AK-47 or SKS assault rifle. His last-known address was Chamisal Trailer Park 70 in Gallup.

CrimeStoppers has increased the reward to $2,000 for information leading to his arrest.

Call CrimeStoppers at 726-6161 or the Gallup Police Department at 726-5411.