Fire chief fired over gun-waving charges

VERLARDE, N.M. (KRQE) - The chief of a volunteer fire department in northern New Mexico is out after being accused of showing up at the fire station with guns drawn.

Rio Arriba County fired Velarde Fire Chief Darwin Yazzie Tuesday over the incident reported the day before.

Sheriff's investigators describe it as a wild scene with Chief Darwin Yazzie pointing guns at dozens of people attending the meeting.

Yazzie, 28, is now sitting in the Rio Arriba county jail charged with five counts of aggravated assault.

Rio Arriba county officials announced his firing at a news conference Tuesday.

A sheriff's spokesperson said Yazzie showed up at the volunteer fire station armed with a rifle or shotgun and a handgun.

As he pointed the weapons people, some in the crowd scrambled to get out freaking down a door to escape.

Yazzie then left the scene but was found and arrested just after midnight at his home.

KRQE News 13 has learned Yazzie is no stranger to the law with a string of drunken driving arrests this year alone.

"I'm not aware of any of those," County Attorney Adan Trujillo said. "I've heard rumors and speculation, but I just don't think that you can terminate someone based upon a DUI when that doesn't have anything to do with fighting a fire."

The county's emergency manager and fire marshal will fill in for the fire chief until the county finds a new one.

The fire marshal told News 13 his first order of business is to change the locks on the fire house.

There has been a rift in the Velarde volunteer fire department since the previous fire chief was let go six months ago in his own cloud of controversy.