Gunshots were reportedly fired last week during a family/employee disturbance at state Rep. J. Paul Brown’s sheep ranch near Ignacio.
The La Plata County Sheriff’s Office said Friday it is investigating, but no arrests have been made and no charges have been filed.
Brown was not at the ranch at the time of the incident, which occurred about 5 p.m. June 5.
According to restraining orders filed in La Plata County Court, Michael David Brooks was providing alcohol to Navajo sheep herders working at the ranch.
Luke Brown, the son of J. Paul Brown, confronted Brooks about the situation, and Brooks became verbally and physically abusive.
Brooks is Luke Brown’s brother-in-law.
Brooks clenched his fists, chest-bumped Luke Brown and jabbed his finger into Luke Brown’s chest, according to Luke Brown’s motion for a protection order.
Brooks then left the ranch, only to return minutes later. He grabbed a rifle from Luke Brown’s pickup and fired rounds at a barn or some other metal object, Luke Brown wrote in his report.
The shots were fired in the general direction of Luke Brown and his mother, Debbie Brown, according to the report.
“I was on a 911 call ... and my mother and I raced to her house where we locked the doors, shut shades and hid as we feared for our lives,” he wrote in his report.
Brooks apparently left the ranch, and the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office began a search for him.
Dan Bender, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, said the case remains under investigation.
“We’re constrained to the facts that we find in an investigation, and that’s what moves our investigations forward,” he said. “We try to deal with the facts as they become available rather than supposition or opinions of other individuals.”
Luke Brown, Debbie Brown and Stacy Brown, who is Michael Brook’s sister, all filed for protection orders in La Plata County Court. A hearing on the orders is scheduled for next week.
J. Paul Brown said he was in Denver at the time, but he returned home to help deal with the situation.
The family hasn’t heard from Brooks since the incident, he said. Luke Brown hired Brooks earlier this year, but it wasn’t working out, J. Paul Brown said.
Efforts to reach Brooks for comment were unsuccessful.
“I’m hopeful that he’s gone back to the state of Washington where he’s from,” J. Paul Brown said.
shane@durangoherald.com
