Two arrested after alleged Walmart parking lot robbery in Gallup

Two people were arrested after two Gallup women were allegedly robbed in the Walmart parking lot, one of the city’s busiest retail spaces and a place used daily by shoppers from across McKinley County.

Gallup police identified the suspects as Cody Howard, 33, of Mentmore, and Vanessa Reeves. The women, both adults from Gallup, were walking to their vehicle in the parking lot when they were stopped, according to the police department’s account of the incident.

Police said the robbery happened Tuesday, March 3, 2020, at about 7:30 p.m. The location matters because the Walmart lot is not a remote stretch of roadway or isolated side street. It is one of the most visible everyday commercial spaces in Gallup, where customers, employees and passing motorists are regularly coming and going.

The case moved quickly from report to arrest. Records at the McKinley County Adult Detention Center later showed the two suspects jailed on $50,000 bond. Gallup Sun also described the case as one in which the victims were beaten and robbed in the Walmart parking lot.

For Gallup residents, the arrest put a name to a crime that happened in a place many people use without thinking twice about it. A parking lot robbery at a major store can unsettle customers well beyond the two women directly involved, especially in a city where Walmart serves as a routine stop for families, workers and travelers from surrounding communities.

The incident also fits the kind of offense that local officers frequently flag in retail areas: a fast-moving confrontation near a vehicle, a brief window to act, and a public setting where victims may be caught off guard. In this case, the arrests tied the allegations to two specific people from Mentmore and brought the matter into the county detention record soon after the reported attack.