In the early morning hours of December 3, 2021, a heated argument shattered the quiet of a Gallup, New Mexico neighborhood. The dispute, which took place near the 1400 block of Elva Drive, was between 50-year-old Russell Shack and a woman identified as 27-year-old Amber Yazzie. At approximately 10:09 a.m., the verbal confrontation escalated tragically when Yazzie allegedly pulled out a firearm and shot Shack.
First responders arrived to find Russell Shack suffering from gunshot wounds.
He was rushed to a local hospital, but his injuries proved to be fatal, and he succumbed to them later that day. Witnesses at the scene identified Yazzie as the shooter, sparking a manhunt for her after she fled the area. Law enforcement described Yazzie as being approximately 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighing around 138 pounds, and having a distinct tattoo on her face.
For a week, Amber Yazzie remained at large, with authorities following leads and conducting searches, including on the nearby Navajo reservation. The search came to an end in the pre-dawn hours of December 10, 2021. At around 3:21 a.m., officers with the Gallup Police Department, along with narcotics agents, located Yazzie in Gallup. She attempted to evade capture by fleeing in a vehicle but was ultimately apprehended north of the city on the Navajo reservation with the assistance of the Navajo Nation Police Department and the McKinley County Sheriff's Department. Yazzie was arrested without further incident and was turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to face charges in connection with the death of Russell Shack.
