Staff Reports
ALBUQUERQUE — A Tohatchi man is facing federal charges for allegedly shooting and killing another man during a confrontation in an arroyo.
According to court documents, on Sept. 8, law enforcement officers responded to an arroyo near Yah-Ta-Hey, N.M., within the exterior boundaries of the Navajo Nation, where they found the victim deceased with an apparent gunshot wound to the torso.
Investigators determined that the previous day, Jason Duboise, 39, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, and several members of his family had gone looking for the victim following an incident involving another family member. According to witnesses, members of the group chased the victim toward the arroyo, and at least one person was carrying a rope.
Duboise told investigators that he and another man followed the victim into the arroyo to confront him. Duboise alleged that the victim picked up a rock and attempted to throw it at the other man, at which point Duboise drew a firearm and fired at the victim. Duboise claimed that he intended to fire a warning shot but admitted that he pointed the pistol at the victim when he discharged the weapon.
Duboise left the victim in the arroyo without contacting law enforcement. Investigators later recovered the firearm that Duboise identified as the one used in the shooting from a vehicle parked outside his residence.
Duboise is charged with second degree murder. He will remain in custody pending a detention hearing, which has not been scheduled. If convicted of the current charge, Duboise faces up to life in prison.
The Gallup Resident Agency of the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Navajo Nation Police Department and Navajo Nation Department of Criminal Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Marshall is prosecuting the case.
