Shooting victim won't talk

WWhat do you do if you have a gunshot victim who refuses to tell you how he got shot?

That's the problem Navajo Nation police in Fort Defiance had Feb. 27 when they talked to Ryan Ronald Blackgoat, 19.

The case began about 10:25 p.m. when a caller to the police department reported that a male jumped out of a vehicle and took off running. Police received a separate report of a person bleeding near the post office.

Police and emergency medical personnel responded but after searching the area, could fine no one.

Then, as the EMT team was heading back to base, they came upon a young man - later identified as Blackgoat - laying on the pavement about a quarter mile north of the post office.

According to police, Blackgoat was bleeding from a gunshot wound to his left leg. He was highly intoxicated as well as being "very uncooperative."

He was taken to the emergency room at the Fort Defiance hospital where police said he continued to be uncooperative, refusing to say how he got the gunshot wound.

 Blackgoat was later flown to UNM Hospital in Albuquerque for treatment of his wound.

Engine fire destroys car

Police investigated what turned out to be a car on fire near Indian Wells, Ariz., on March 6.

Caroline Frances, 26, of Indian Wells, told police she was heading north on Navajo Route 6 when her car stalled. She pulled to the side of the road and noticed smoke coming from the hood.

When she got out, she saw that the grass under the car was on fire.

With the help of a passerby, Frances was able to move the car 30 feet further from the road to prevent the fire from spreading. She then noticed that there was more smoke coming out of the hood and when she opened it, she saw flames under the engine.

She said she poured water on the engine but that didn't seem to help.

Police said by the time they arrived, the car was engulfed in flames and was a total loss. Why it caught on fire is still a mystery, they said.

Whiteriver woman sentenced for manslaughter

PHOENIX - Aimee Melissa Edwards, 35, of Whiteriver, Ariz., was sentenced March 5 to 51 months in federal prison. Edwards pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter Nov. 3, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

On Dec. 21, 2007, Edwards and her 40-year-old boyfriend, the victim, consumed significant quantities of beer and became engaged in a heated argument at their residence in Whiteriver on the White Mountain Apache Indian Reservation.

During the argument, the victim reportedly became physically abusive and threatened the lives of both Edwards and their two children. As a result of the reported abuse and threats, Edwards grabbed a knife and, during the continued argument, stabbed the victim in the chest, resulting in his death. Both Edwards and the victim are White Mountain Apache.

Man arrested for beating father

FLAGSTAFF - Jonathon Ray Begay, age and hometown unavailable, was arrested March 9 for allegedly beating his father.

He was booked into Coconino County Jail on charges of vulnerable adult abuse and aggravated assault, according to the Flagstaff Police Department.

According to police, officers were called to the Safeway on Plaza Way to speak with a man who was saying that he needed to find his father. Begay was very intoxicated and told the officers he thought his father was in the area of Interstate 17 and Kachina Boulevard.

Officers on the scene contacted the state Department of Public Safety, which dispatched officers to look for the father along the interstate.

DPS officers located an elderly man on I-17 who told them he had been punched and thrown out of the vehicle in which he was riding. The man, who was 92 and was unable to walk without the assistance of a walker, was then left there, he said.

He was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment and observation.

The police report said Jonathon Begay made statements that he hated his father, he wanted his father to die, and "tried to kill my father, I'm sorry."

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