Nettie Cooley was jolted awake at 3 am on May 6, 2023 to a call from the mother of one of her sons’ friends. The woman on the other line had some terrible news: Nettie’s son Elon Cooley had been shot and killed outside of the Sports Page Lounge.
The mother couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She’d just been at the bar with Elon and her other sons. The family had started the night off at Sammy C’s Rockin’ Sports Pub & Grille, but they eventually moved on to Sports Page Lounge, which was formerly located at 1400 S. Second St. before it was shut down in late 2023. Nettie said they went over to Sports Page because her sons wanted to play pool.
In an interview with the Sun, Nettie said that her son’s killer, Isaiah Palacios, was at both bars that night. She said that Palacios, who was 22 years old at the time of the shooting, saw her family and purposefully followed them to Sports Page.
A BITTER HISTORY
Nettie claims Elon and Palacios had never liked each other ever since high school. She said that Palacios kept trying to pick a fight with Elon at Sammy C’s, and that’s why they moved on to Sports Page.
According to a police report, Metro Dispatch received a call around 1:45 am after shots were reportedly fired outside the local bar.
When Gallup Police officers arrived at the scene, they found security guards performing CPR on Elon in the bar’s parking lot. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Elon had reportedly told the security guards that he had gotten into a fight with Palacios in the bar. He asked the security guards to escort him to his car. Nettie said her other sons left Sports Page about 10 minutes before the shooting happened.
As the security guards were escorting Elon to his car, Palacios ran up to them and reportedly shot at Elon multiple times, with the security guards firing back at him. Elon was pronounced dead at the scene.
After the altercation, Palacios was transported to an Albuquerque hospital. GPD obtained a warrant for his arrest, and when he was released from the hospital on May 16, 2023, University of New Mexico police officers arrested him. He was booked into the McKinley County Adult Detention Center that same day.
DISSATISFIED WITH THE SYSTEM
Palacios was originally charged with first-degree murder, criminal damage to property (over $1,000), and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. But after he signed a plea deal on Nov. 1, the criminal damage charge was dropped and the first-degree charge was brought down to second-degree. As a part of the plea deal, the court is recommending that Palacios undergo a 60-day diagnostic evaluation before sentencing.
Because he took the plea deal, Palacios will not face a jury trial. Nettie has a problem with that, and with how the case was handled in general.
“I think they should have done a jury trial and tried to charge him with first degree murder because he did see me and my son and my other sons at Sammy C’s and that’s why we left,” Nettie said.
Nettie said she believes the justice system failed her son.
“I just wish the justice system was better with these laws because the max sentence for second-degree murder is only 20 years,” she said. “First degree would’ve been only 30 years. These kids that are shooting [people] are only in their 20s, they’re only going to be in their 50s when they get out; they’ll still have their whole life ahead of them.”
Nettie filed a wrongful death petition with the Gallup District Court in January. She is suing both bars for overserving both Elon and Palacios, the security team who tried to help Elon that night, and Palacios. The case won’t go to court until sometime next year.
In the meantime, Nettie said she hasn’t had time to properly grieve her son.
“I think I haven’t really had time to properly grieve because I’m trying to get his killer put in jail,” she said.
By Molly Ann Howell
Managing Editor
