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Gallup Sun VOL 10 | ISSUE 503
www.gallupsun.com
November 15, 2024
Sports Page shooting victim’s mother speaks out By Molly Ann Howell Managing Editor
N
ettie Cooley was jolted awake at 3 am on May 6, 2023 to a call from the mother of one of her sons’ friends. The woman on the other line had some terrible news: Nettie’s son Elon Cooley had been shot and killed outside of the Sports Page Lounge. The mother couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She’d just been at the bar with Elon and her other sons. The family had started the night off at Sammy C’s Rockin’ Sports Pub & Grille, but they eventually moved on to Sports Page Lounge, wh ich wa s for merly located at 1400 S. Second St. before it was shut down in late 2023. Nettie said they went over to Sports Page because her sons wanted to play pool. In an interview with the Sun, Nettie said that her son’s killer, Isaiah Palacios, was at both bars that night. She said that Palacios, who was 22 years old at the time of the shooting, saw her family and purposefully followed them to Sports Page. A BITTER HISTORY Nettie claims Elon and Palacios had never liked each other ever since high school. She said that Palacios kept trying to pick a fight with Elon at Sammy C’s, and that’s why they moved on to Sports Page. According to a police report, Metro Dispatch received a call around 1:45 am after shots were reportedly fired outside the local bar. When Gallup Police officers arrived at the scene, they found security guards performing CPR on Elon in the bar’s parking lot. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Elon had reportedly told the security guards that he had gotten into a fight with Palacios in the
bar. He asked the security guards to escort him to his car. Nettie said her other sons left Sports Page about 10 minutes before t he shoot i ng happened. A s t he s e c u r it y guards were escorting Elon to his car, Palacios ra n up to t hem a nd reportedly shot at Elon multiple times, with the security guards firing back at him. Elon was pronounced dead at the scene. After the altercation, Palacios was transported to an Albuquerque hospital. GPD obtained a warrant for his arrest, and when he was released from the hospital on May 16, 2023, University of New Mexico police officers arrested him. He was booked into the McKinley County Adult Detention Center that same day. DISSATISFIED WITH THE SYSTEM Palacios was origi n a l ly ch a r ged w it h first-degree murder, criminal damage to property (over $1,000), and aggravated assault with a deadly wea pon. But after he signed a plea dea l on Nov. 1, the criminal damage charge was d ropped a nd the first-degree cha rge wa s brought down to second-degree. As a part of the plea deal, t he cou r t i s recommending that Palacios undergo a 6 0 - d ay d i a gnostic eva lua t ion b efor e sentencing. Because he took the plea deal, Palacios will not face a jur y trial. Nettie has a problem with that, and with how the case was handled in general. “I think they should
have done a jury trial and tried to charge him with first degree murder because he did see me and my son and my other sons at Sammy C’s and that’s why we left,” Nettie said. Ne t t ie s a id s he believes the justice system failed her son. “I just wish the justice system was better with these laws because the max sentence for second-degree murder is only 20 years,” she said. “First degree would’ve been only 30 years. These kids that are shooting [people] are only in their 20s, they’re only going to be in their 50s when they get out; they’ll still have their whole life ahead of them.” Nettie filed a wrongful death petition with the Gallup District Court in January. She is suing both bars for overserving both Elon and Palacios, the security team who tried to help Elon that night, and Palacios. The case won’t go to court until sometime next year. In the meantime,
Isaiah Palacios Nettie said she hasn’t had time to properly grieve her son. “I think I haven’t really had time to properly grieve because I’m trying to get his killer put in jail,” she said.
Elon Cooley was shot and killed outside of the Sports Page Lounge during the early morning hours of May 6, 2023. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Nettie Cooley
GFD, GPD respond to downtown explosion Staff Reports
T
wo employees of Bulk Transfer were injured after a fuel tank exploded in downtown Gallup on Nov. 12. Around 10 am that day both Gallup Police and Gallup Fire responded to reports of a possible explosion and fire near Round House Lane, located between Highway 66 and Interstate 40 close to Downtown Gallup. People were asked to evacuate the area due to safety concerns, and multiple streets were closed
down for about an hour, including Highway 66 at the intersection of Second and Third Streets and Maloney Avenue. The fire was contained about an hour after the GFD responded to the scene, and the roads were reopened around 11 am. Two people were injured during the explosion, and they were both employees of Bulk Transfer. Gallup Fire Chief Jon Pairett said he was unaware of their status as of press time. The cause of the ex plosion is still under investigation.
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