19-year-old accused of shooting at three people in Ford Canyon Park

Three people were allegedly targeted in Ford Canyon Park when a 19-year-old was accused of firing into the public space on April 4, turning a Gallup park into the center of a serious attempted murder case. Metro Dispatch received multiple calls around 10 p.m. reporting about four shots fired in the area, and callers said a woman was lying on the ground and holding her head.

The suspect is facing three counts of attempted murder, a charge that raises the case beyond a single altercation and suggests prosecutors believe multiple people were put at risk in the same incident. The allegations place the violence in one of Gallup’s better-known recreation areas, the kind of place families, teens and neighbors use for everyday activity rather than for emergency response.

Ford Canyon Park is listed by the City of Gallup at 908 Buena Vista, Gallup, NM 87301, and city materials also tie the area to the Joe Vargas Veterans Center and the Ford Canyon Park complex. The park includes basketball courts, a concession stand and tennis courts. City parks documents also reference the Park Office at 906 Tafoya Dr., next to the Mickey Mantle field at Ford Canyon Park, showing how closely the facility is tied to daily recreation programming and field access.

That history makes the shooting especially unsettling for McKinley County residents who know the park as a shared community space. Ford Canyon Park has also appeared in earlier local violence reporting, including a case in which a 15-year-old boy was found dead after shots were fired there. The new allegations add to the pressure on city and police officials to show how public spaces are being protected.

Gallup Police Department staffing underscores the challenge facing local law enforcement. The department says it has 60 commissioned officers, 10 public service officers and 6 civilian employees. For a city park where shots were reportedly fired after dark and emergency calls came in from multiple witnesses, the question now is not only what happened that night, but what changes, if any, follow for security in a place residents are supposed to be able to trust.