Navajo officer slain in domestic dispute

RED VALLEY, AZ-Tragedy struck the Navajo Nation on March 19, as a domestic dispute turned deadly leaving Navajo Police Officer Alex Yazzie and his assailant, Justin Fowler, 24, dead.

Two other Navajo police officers were wounded in the attack on remote highway Navajo Route 13. Navajo Police Officer Herbert Fraizer was shot in the shin and Officer James Hale was shot in the right leg.

The tragedy began about six hours prior to the fatal shootings, when Jordon Fowler called the Shiprock police district and reported that his brother, Justin Fowler, was beating his wife, Rayana Ramone, with a pistol. Suspect Fowler was also beating his mother Cecelia Begay with a pistol. The police communications operator heard shots fired while on the phone with Jordon Fowler.

Navajo police officer Anderson Dez responded after the suspect left the scene. Upon arrival, 200 yards south of Littlewater store, reporting party Jordon Fowler pointed to Officer Dez in the direction of U.S. Highway 491 where the suspect was parked. Officer Dez saw the suspect at his vehicle. The suspect then discharges his weapon, an AR-15 semi automatic rifle at Officer Dez, who took cover behind his police vehicle. Officer Dez was unharmed. The suspect fled in his vehicle.

At 8:20 p.m., the suspect returned to Littlewater to the location of the mobile police command center making a u-turn in an apparent taunt fleeing the scene with Navajo Police Lieutenant Phillip Joe in pursuit with several police officers.

On Navajo Route 13, five miles south of Red Valley trading post, Fowler discharged his weapon toward approaching police vehicles, disabling the police vehicle operated by Lieutenant Joe.  The suspect entered his vehicle, fled scene toward Lukachukai, Arizona.

At approximately 11 miles south of Red Valley trading post, responding officers came upon the suspect vehicle, parked along roadway, scene three, when the suspect discharged his weapon at officers.  The officers devised and executed a plan, engaged the suspect vehicle from behind, as the suspect discharged his weapon. The suspect was subsequently shot and killed by police.

Four police vehicles were damaged, two of them are non-operational in pursuit of the assailant.

In all, more than 30 Navajo police officers responded from the first reported time at 2:15 p.m. from five police districts, Shiprock, Crownpoint, Window Rock, Chinle, and Kayenta. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting the investigation with the Navajo Department of Criminal Investigation.

While the Navajo Nation released information about the deadly assault, little information was released about Navajo Police Officer Alex Yazzie.

Jade Maestas remembers her youngest uncle, Navajo Nation Police Officer Alex Yazzie who was killed in the line of duty, as honorable, kind, gentle, funny and responsible.

He and other officers were responding to a domestic violence call in Little Water, New Mexico.

"He's always been our hero. The hero of our family," Maestas said in a telephone interview.

Yazzie graduated from Crownpoint High School and soon after left for the Marine Corps. After four years of service he returned to the Navajo Nation.

Upon his return he served as a Resource Enforcement Officer with the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency before he joined the Shiprock Police Department in 2012.

"I think it was his way of being a decent person," Maestas said of her uncle joining the NNPD.

Maestas took solace in knowing that her uncle was with his police family when he died.

"He didn't die alone. He was with people who had his back," she said.

Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty, (Toadlena/Two Grey Hills/Beclabito/Gadii'áhi/To'Koi/Cove/Sheep Springs/Red Valley/Tsé Al Náoztii), stated in a news release from the Office of the Speaker that "our Nation is mourning the loss of Officer Alex Yazzie who gave his life for our people. We have to offer our prayers today for the impacted families and children."

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