Update: The Utah man suspected to have issued the Sept. 13 bomb threat to Montezuma-Cortez middle and high schools has not been arrested yet, and police believe he didn’t act alone.
The Navajo Police Department in Shiprock now believes a Montezuma Creek father and son issued the multiple threats – including one in Shiprock – after another family member called and tipped them off, police said Wednesday. A warrant is is out for their arrest, and Shiprock police are now heading the investigation.
Shiprock police suspect the pair were under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the threats.
The man suspected in the Sept. 15 shooting near Kemper Elementary School has also not yet been arrested, according to city and county law enforcement.
Gerardo Arturo Federico fled the state and is likely in Arizona, New Mexico or Utah, Sheriff Steve Nowlin said Sept. 24.
Cortez police were called to 546 E. Montezuma Ave. for a fight, which then escalated to a shooting, in which an adult female was shot in the leg.
The shooting forced Kemper students to evacuate the building. Police, thinking that Federico was inside the house, spent hours trying to persuade Federico to come outside.
Assistant District Attorney Will Furse said Sept. 16 that formal charges against Federico would include first-degree assault, violation of a protection order and possession of a weapon by a previous offender.
And on Sept. 23, Montezuma-Cortez High School sent out a letter that responded to a rumor of a potential threat to the school to take place Sept. 24. Law enforcement, however, did not find anything suspicious and cleared the school.
Cortez Police Patrol Sgt. Glenn Edwards said the threat was “hearsay.”
The rumor was that somebody had written a threat in a school bathroom, he said, adding that school resource officer Karla Ross checked all the bathrooms the evening of Sept. 23.
The threat was against a teacher at the high school, but the picture raising concern was sent from Texas, Nowlin added.
This article was originally published Sept. 24 and has been updated to include new information from Navajo police in Shiprock regarding the Sept. 13 bomb threat to Montezuma-Cortez middle and high schools.
