A 25-year-old woman with no criminal record was fatally shot by U.S. marshals during a warrant operation in Farmington on May 7 in a case that has been ruled a homicide, according to an autopsy report obtained by the Tri-City Record through a public records request.
Marshals were attempting to serve a warrant on Brandon Roe, 37, who also was killed during the shooting.
Roe, who was wanted on local warrants for failure to appear and failure to comply on fourth-degree felony charges, was a passenger in the gold Chevrolet Blazer that Wilkerson was driving when she was shot by “law enforcement,” the report states.
The Office of the Medical Investigator report states that Wilkerson was pronounced dead at 10:10 p.m. May 7, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide, which simply means the killing of one person by another.
The cause of death was gunshot wounds about 6:30 p.m. that day.
One shot entered the right side of her neck “behind and lower to the right ear” and struck her cervical spine, the base of her skull and the left maxilla (jaw), causing multiple “skull fractures,” the report states. The bullet was not recovered, according to the report.
A second bullet entered the “central mid-back”and struck the thoracic spine and right lung, the report states. The bullet was recovered and was described as a “deformed jacketed projectile” that weighed “64.0 grains,” the report says.
A third bullet hit the left clavicle and exited the right upper back. The bullet was not recovered.
A fourth bullet entered the “anterior mid-right arm.” It was not recovered.
The Tri-City Record has not yet received the autopsy report for Roe.
At least three deputies from the U.S. Marshals Service were involved in the shooting. They were identified in a San Juan County Sheriff’s Office summary of the shooting as Jared Santesson, Mike Coconis and Navid Babadi.
- The marshal believed to be Babadi said he fired his weapon at least four times.
- The marshal believed to be Coconis said he fired his weapon twice.
- The marshal believed to be Santesson said he fired his weapon four times.
At least seven officers from San Juan County Sheriff’s Office were at the scene, according to a document provided to the Tri-City Record by the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office through a public records request.
- Three are cross-deputized with the U.S. Marshals Service – Detectives C. Price, N. Adegite and A. Washburn.
- The other three have “pending” cross-commissions with the Marshals Service – Sgt. G. Mauldin and Detectives G. Salazar and G. Stow.
In the marshals’ statements and in the Sheriff’s Office summary, officers alluded to possible firearms in a vehicle believed to have been driven by Roe.
Babadi said a black Mercury Mariner was left with “a brown in color pistol holster on the rear floorboard of the vehicle” earlier that day. He also said a “Farmington Police officer observed an AK-47 rifle in the front passenger seat of the black Mercury Mariner.”
Farmington Police discovered an incident report that appears similar to this statement, but the incident happened at 1:46 a.m. April 16 at a home in the 4000 block of Copper Avenue.
In the report, police said there was a “Code 20,” which means suspicious vehicle “on private property,” and that it might be stolen.
The report states that a “male named BD was working on the car and ran inside,” and the “male ditched a rifle.”
Farmington Police spokeswoman Shanice Gonzales said it was an “M4-style firearm” inside of the vehicle on private property, and “as there was no legal basis to seize the firearm at that time, it remained in place.”
Gonzales also states that police were “unable to confirm” to the identity of the fleeing subject, because of “conflicting information” that was “provided by individuals on scene.”
The investigation of the shooting reported finding no gun in Wilkerson’s Blazer.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice policy on use of force, updated in January, deadly force may not be used “solely to prevent escape” or “solely to disable moving vehicles.”
The policy states that an officer may fire into a moving vehicle only if the person inside is threatening death or serious injury through means other than the vehicle itself. If the vehicle is being used as a weapon, it must pose imminent danger or death with no other means of safety such as moving out of the way, according to Section 1-16.200 of the policy.
San Juan County District Attorney Jack Fortner has not made a determination on the case.
