Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
A Tucumcari man is charged with a shooting another man in the back of the neck in the parking lot of the Redwood Lodge in Tucumcari on Monday.
Howard Russell King, the victim, was transported to Tucumcari Memorial Hospital by relatives about 8:45 p.m. on Monday, according to documents filed with the Quay County Magistrate Court and a Tucumcari Police Department press release.
King was later transferred to the intensive care unit at an Amarillo hospital, where he remains today. A spokesperson for the hospital declined to release King’s condition.
The man charged with shooting King is identified as the manager of the Redwood Lodge, Robert W. Wynashe, 66, also known as "Chief," according to court documents.
Wynashe is charged with seven felony counts, including aggravated battery, shooting at a motor vehicle, tampering with evidence and criminal damage of property.
He is jailed in the Quay County Detention Center on a $1 million cash bond, court documents state.
According to court documents:
King was moving out of the Redwood Lodge with help from relatives on Monday night.
King, a passenger in the front seat of a car, told the driver to stop because someone was motioning to him from the parking lot.
King's niece, who was in the back seat of the car, said she saw Wyhnashe with a gun and he shot at the vehicle hitting the passenger side glass busting it out.
The driver of the car said he did not see who shot at them. He said he heard a loud bang and the windows of his vehicle breaking.
The driver said, "He looked over and saw Russell grab his chest, then watched him fall over into his lap."
In the hospital, police asked King if he "saw who shot him," and said that "Chief did."
A search of the manager's quarters of the Redwood Lodge located two boxes of ammunition with rounds missing in an unlocked safe.
"On the front porch was a green chair and located under the seat cushion was a .357 magnum handgun loaded and one round discharged," the documents stated.
Wynashe is expected to be arraigned on Thursday.
