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A home in Grants is showing its Christmas spirit as are many homes in the area. Scott Ford - CC
CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. – On Nov. 24 Katie Mllry was going about her day, walking down the road in the Zuni Mountains near La Bajara like she loved to do. Then a car pulled up next to her and the occupant opened fire with a shotgun. Mllry survived the assault but the gunman remains on the loose.
Cibola County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived quickly, and Mllry expressed gratitude at how quickly the police responded. Despite the quick response the gunman managed to get away.
Sheriff’s deputies worked to find the gunman but were unable to locate the suspect.
Is the case closed?
It has been a few weeks since the altercation in the Zuni Mountains. Cibola County Sheriff Tony Mace explained that the office has exhausted all resources that they have access to in this search, but that does not mean that the case is closed.
Sheriff Mace said that his office will continue to look for evidence but without physical evidence there is little to be done at this point. To confirm that fact the sheriff’s office worked with the New Mexico State Police who explained that heavy social media attention after the shooting occurred may have given the shooter time to discard any physical evidence.
After the initial story about this shooting ran in the Dec. 2 edition of the Cibola Citizen many bundles of that edition of the newspaper were stolen from the sales racks. In that edition of the newspaper a photo of a car with the likeness of the suspected vehicle ran on the front page; about 60 to 70 percent of the papers circulated across the county were stolen that week.
The NMSP recommended that the only thing to do for this case would be to get a geofence warrant, which would allow a search for all cell phones that pinged in the shooting. Such a warrant is typically denied by a judge for its intrusiveness and costs upwards of $4,000 per search with the geofence system, time and resources the sheriff’s office do not have, according to the sheriff.
As of press time the case was not closed, and deputies will continue to search for more evidence.
“The police work you see on [television] and the movies isn’t how it works in real life in small rural communities,” Sheriff Mace said.
The shooting
People who live in the Zuni Mountains make often use of the trails and public lands available to them; Mllry is one of those people. She often took walks around the mountains, meeting her husband on the road as he returned home every day.
Because she lived in the mountains and often took walks, Mllry carried her .38 pistol with her for protection. While she never imagined the need to use it, she said that she carried the weapon to protect herself not just from wild animals but also from the people who might drive the roads where she walked.
People often stopped to make sure that she was okay in the mountains and Mllry let them know that she was just out for a stroll. So, it was not a surprise when a four-door Hyundai SUV pulled up next to her and the driver asked if she was okay. Things turned south when the masked driver flashed a shotgun, Mllry responded by flashing her firearm and moving away from the vehicle. The driver stepped out of the SUV and fired the first shot, striking Mllry in the back of her left leg up to her lower back.
She turned around and unloaded two shots at her assailant. It was at this point that the driver fired another shot, striking Mllry in the chest up toward her face, forcing her to collapse. She stumbled down the side of the road and into some malpais.
In response she fired the remaining bullets in her gun at the assailant. Things started to go black for Mllry; she recalled that she spent several minutes in the ditch before getting up and walking up the road, knowing that her husband would be by soon.
As he was returning home Wesley Mllry passed by a blue Hyundai SUV that was driving fast down the road. Thinking there was something strange about the vehicle, the US Army veteran committed his observation to memory before seeing his wife emerge from some bushes just off the road. Bloodied, he suspected his wife had been hit by a car until she told him she had been shot.
K. Mllry spent a few hours in Cibola General Hospital in Grants where she was treated for the gunshots. She survived the encounter but will likely have ball bearings from the shotgun in her body forever.
The sheriff’s office explained that when found, the shooter will be charged with Aggravated Battery because that is the charge that best fits the crime according to New Mexico law.
Anyone with information should call the Cibola County Sheriff’s Office at 505-876-2040 or leave an anonymous tip with Cibola County CrimeStoppers at 505-287-8400. If you see a situation or are involved in one that might be dangerous please call 911 urged law enforcement officials.