New Mexico

Suspect identified in Navajo tribal officer's shooting death

Associated Press
Published | Updated

This undated photo provided by the Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President, shows Navajo Nation police officer James Largo. Largo died Sunday, March 12, 2017, after responding to a domestic violence call near the small town of Prewitt, N.M. (Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President via AP) (The Associated Press)

This undated photo provided by the Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President, shows Navajo Nation police officer James Largo. Largo died Sunday, March 12, 2017, after responding to a domestic violence call near the small town of Prewitt, N.M. (Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President via AP) (The Associated Press)

Authorities say the man suspected of gunning down a tribal police officer on the nation's largest American Indian reservation was found hiding on a ridge not far from his rural home in western New Mexico.

The McKinley County Sheriff's Office in a report obtained by the Navajo Times (http://bit.ly/2mpVATd ) identified the suspect as Kirby Cleveland.

He's in federal custody. The FBI has not commented about the suspect and its ongoing investigation.

The sheriff's office was among the law enforcement agencies that responded early Sunday when 27-year-old Navajo Nation Officer Houston James Largo was shot on a county road after stopping a vehicle.

Deputies reported that Largo was found lying about 50 yards from the vehicle with his duty pistol by his feet.

He had been shot twice.