Incident stems from Casamero Lake DV call

Kirby Cleveland wasn’t having a good night March 11. He was irritable and making negative comments toward his wife and kids. When he went outside the family’s Casamero Lake (Prewitt) residence with a rifle, his common law wife, listed in a criminal complaint as “K.T.” sensed something wrong.

“K.T. advised that on the evening of March 11, she was home watching movies with her children. Cleveland was at home as well. Cleveland was drinking. Cleveland started to get drunk and angry. He started to make mean comments to her and the children. At some point, Cleveland grabbed a rifle from the house and went outside.

“When he left the house, K.T. called 911 to report the domestic violence situation,” a criminal complaint by W. Monty Waldron, an investigator with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Albuquerque, states.

Cleveland, 32, is charged with killing 27-year-old Navajo Nation Police Officer Houston James Largo. At a March 22 court appearance in Albuquerque, a federal judge agreed that there was probable cause for prosecution.

Cleveland, who was on probation for a previous charge of forcing his way into a Navajo Nation residence armed with a baseball bat in 2012, and assaulting a female, did not enter a plea and was ordered to remain jailed pending trial. Cleveland received two years in prison and three years of supervised probation for the 2012 case.

According to an autopsy done at the University of New Mexico Hospital, Largo died of a gunshot wound to the right forehead on the afternoon of March 12. The .22 caliber bullet passed through the cerebral edema and lodged in the right occipital.

The complaint states that Largo responded to the domestic violence from K.T. and near the Casamero Lake section of Prewitt. K.T. called police and later took Cleveland to a neighbor’s residence, the complaint states.

Largo got on the scene as the unidentified neighbor was bringing Cleveland back home. Largo put the driver in handcuffs and that’s when Cleveland ran from the scene with Largo in pursuit. It was around 11 pm, according to information in the complaint.

The handcuffed individual reportedly never heard gun shots, as he told investigators that engine noise must have drowned out the sound of gun fire. The complaint states that Cleveland walked home with the .22 caliber rifle and told K.T., “I shot that police officer. You need to go help him.”

A female neighbor found Largo on the ground near his police cruiser and managed to get his car keys and radio for help. The complaint does not name the female neighbor.

The complaint states that K.T. and Cleveland drove to the scene and waited for police to arrive. Cleveland then walked off into the hills, states the complaint. The police found Cleveland hiding behind a big rock about a little more than a mile from the crime scene the following day.

Largo was from Thoreau. He was laid to rest March 16.

By Bernie Dotson
Sun Correspondent