Cortez police are seeking a man suspected of assault and menacing after he allegedly pushed a woman to the ground and hit her with a handgun Friday night in the City Market parking lot.
Officers arrived about 10 a.m. at City Market, 508 E. Main St., but both suspects had left the scene – one in a white Toyota Tacoma and the other in a black Chevy Suburban. Officers from the Cortez Police Department made contact with the Chevy Suburban, and while the driver, Christopher David, was put through voluntary roadside maneuvers, officer Jason Giacchino spoke with the woman, identified as Charilyn Thomas.
Giacchino said in his incident report that Thomas’ head was bleeding.
According to Giacchino’s interview with Thomas, Dustin Wall approached her and apologized for a problem between the two friends, and asked that she join him in his vehicle to talk with him.
Thomas refused, and Wall reportedly pulled her out of the vehicle, held a gun to her head, and told her that he would “shoot you right now.”
Thomas said she believed that Wall would shoot her, so she began fighting him off instead of allowing him to pull her into the white Tacoma, which was driven by Brittany Richardson.
Wall then allegedly pushed her to the ground and hit her head twice with the gun.
“Charilyn stated that she had fought back so she was not killed, as she was afraid Dustin would actually shoot her,” Giacchino said.
Wall and Richardson drove from City Market parking lot, heading west on East Montezuma Avenue from Harrison Street. Thomas left with David, heading east on East Main Street.
David later told police said he saw Wall pull a black .45-caliber gun from his waistband, point it at Thomas and threaten to shoot her.
Another witness, Bryce Wagner, said he could see something in Wall’s hands while he “was attacking and beating up Thomas,” although he couldn’t definitively say whether Wall held a firearm.
Wagner said he heard Thomas scream for help when he came out of the store and saw Wall attack her on the ground.
Thomas told police she was worried Wall would go to her house that night and “make her pay for snitching on him.”
After Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office deputies failed to contact Wall, David said he would “keep an eye” on Thomas.
Wall faces a warrant for second-degree assault and felony menacing. Tips about Wall’s whereabouts can be submitted to the Cortez Police Department, Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office or the CrimeWatch app.
