Staff Reports
ALBUQUERQUE — A Zuni man was sentenced to 12 years in prison on March 25 for federal firearms offenses after he fired a shotgun at an occupied vehicle parked outside of a home on the Zuni Pueblo.
According to court documents, on the evening of Feb. 2, 2025, Cody Laweka, 35, an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Zuni, drove with another person to a home on the Pueblo of Zuni. The person with whom Laweka drove had a shotgun in his truck bed. On the way to this residence, Laweka reportedly asked to use that shotgun. When Laweka arrived at the residence, he exited the truck with the shotgun and allegedly shot at least twice at a car occupied by another man.
After this shooting, Laweka got back into the truck with the other person and left the scene. No one was hit by Laweka’s gunshots.
The following day, the FBI went to apprehend Laweka at another home in Zuni. Laweka reportedly fled when he spotted officers but was eventually apprehended. During a subsequent interview, Laweka allegedly admitted to firing the shotgun at the car, and tossing the shotgun along the highway. Police searched for the shotgun but never found it.
At the time Laweka committed these crimes crime, he was on supervised release for committing a prior federal crime.
Laweka pled guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon and using a firearm during a crime of violence and discharging that firearm. The Court recommended he complete the Residential Drug Abuse Program, the Bureau of Prisons’ most intensive treatment program. Upon his release from prison, Laweka will be subject to three years of supervised release.
The Gallup Resident Agency of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Pueblo of Zuni Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary C. Jones and Nicholas Marshall are prosecuting this case.
