FARMINGTON — A Shiprock man is being held after being charged by federal officials with three felonies following a violent encounter with a woman in Shiprock on May 28.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico. He was ordered detained by a US investigative judge on June 1 after his preliminary hearing.
The charges Willie faces stem from an incident on May 28 when Willie visited the Shiprock home of a woman he had met on Facebook about two weeks earlier. Upon arrival, the woman joined him in his truck, the statement said.
The two men had a brief discussion before Willie got angry, walked over to the passenger side of the vehicle and tried to throw the woman out. The woman screamed when Willie refused to let her go, at which point her son ran out of the house, grabbed Willie and threw him to the ground, the statement said.
The woman then exited the vehicle as Willie got up, got back into the truck and drove off, reportedly hitting the woman’s fence and a neighbor’s fence in the process, the statement said.
About half an hour later, the woman’s son thought he heard Willie’s truck coming back and got out, where he saw the vehicle come to a slow stop with the headlights off. The woman said she heard gunshots and her son scream. She came out to find her son holding her abdomen, according to the statement.
The woman was quickly able to flag down two officers from the Navajo Police Department and tell them what had happened. Officers had received multiple calls from a truck that was driving erratically and causing property damage in the area. They also heard the gunshots and saw Willie’s truck pass them as it left the scene, the statement said.
The woman’s son was taken to hospital by one of the officers while the other pursued Willie, locating him shortly after when his truck was spotted stalled on the side of the road. When confronted by police, Willie allegedly exited the vehicle with a shotgun. He was ordered by police to drop the gun and responded by slipping it under the truck, the statement said.
Authorities said the shotgun was loaded with four rounds.
The woman’s son was shot in the abdomen, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He remained hospitalized on June 2.
Willie faces a minimum of 10 years in prison if convicted on all three counts, the statement said.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s Farmington office in addition to the Navajo Police Department.
Mike Easterling can be reached at 505-564-4610 or measterling@daily-times.com.
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This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: Shiprock resident Tyrell Willie faces 3 counts and 10 years in prison