A Gallup man is facing numerous charges after being arrested for domestic violence by a Gallup police officer on Oct. 12.

Colin Martinez, 25, was charged with abandonment or abuse of a child, false imprisonment, criminal damage to property, aggravated assault and violating a restraining order.

Gallup Police Officer Brandon Salazar said he was dispatched to the Chuska Apartments on the 2500 block of East Aztec Avenue about 5:30 pm after a neighbor said she heard a woman screaming and yelling in a nearby apartment.

Salazar said he met with the alleged victim, Roderica Tsosie, who said her boyfriend beat her up. She had a red spot on her forehead and scrapes on her elbow.

The first...

The McKinley County Sheriff’s Department issued an affidavit for the arrest of a Gallup minor charged with first-degree murder.

At 11 pm on Nov. 29, McKinley County Investigator Frank Villa Jr. received a phone call from Deputy Clayton Etsitty in reference to a stabbing that had occurred at an apartment on the 500 block of Chino Loop in Gamerco.

Etsitty said he was dispatched to the apartment for a welfare check after a call to Metro Dispatch advised there had been a gunshot heard in the vicinity. When Etsitty arrived at the complex, he was waved down by subjects who directed him to a male in one of the bedrooms with a stab wound.

As he waited for an ambulance and additional...

Deputy Savannah Williams was dispatched to Rimrock Chainsaw at 1292 Hwy. 264 in reference to a larceny.

Ashiihashkii Clasuschee said a customer called him about a cut-off saw and he told the caller he had the saw in stock.  But when he tried to find the saw, he couldn’t.

That’s when he decided to review his security video camera footage and discovered that around 11:30 am on Oct. 17, a man ran out of Rimrock Chainsaw with the cut-off saw he was looking for.  Clasuschee said it was a blue 14” gas-powered Makita cut-off saw worth $980.

Clasuschee told Williams he had about five employees working that day and it was busy.  He believed the saw disappeared when all the...

HOUSE FIRE

Thoreau, Dec. 7

The sheriff’s office is investigating an arson that took place in Thoreau on Dec. 7.

McKinley County Sheriff Deputy Miguel Bittony responded to the call of a possible arson at about 1 am at 7 Red Rock Drive. When he got there, he talked to fire personnel who said the fire started from the outside. He noticed a pile of tires and trash stacked up against a corner of the building.

Steven Becenti, the owner of the house, said he saw the tires lying flat on the ground and not stacked. He said this appeared to be suspicious.

He said he was away when the fire started. No one was in the house when the fire started. No injuries were reported. The police report...