Woman believed to be girlfriend of suspect in Colorado property shooting is also arrested

A member of the Custer County Sheriff’s Office works the scene of a shooting on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023, near Westcliffe, Colo. Authorities say they have captured the man accused of fatally shooting a few people over a years-long property dispute in rural Colorado. The Custer County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday afternoon that Hanme K. Clark was arrested by New Mexico State police. (Parker Seibold/The Gazette via AP)

DENVER (AP) — A woman believed to be the girlfriend of a man suspected of killing three people and wounding a fourth in a property dispute in rural Colorado is also being held in connection with the shooting.

The arrest of Nancy Rae Medina-Kochis, 50, in New Mexico was announced Thursday by the Custer County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado. It said she is suspected of being an accessory to a crime, pending the continued investigation into Monday’s shooting, which killed Robert Geers, 63, his wife Beth Wade Geers, 73, and James Daulton, 58, near Westcliffe, Colorado, about 77 miles (124 kilometers) southwest of Colorado Springs. Daulton’s wife, Patty Daulton, was also wounded.

A truck with bullet holes in the windshield and a shattered window is towed from the scene of a fatal shooting on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 near Westcliffe, Colo. Authorities say they have captured the man accused of fatally shooting a few people over a years-long property dispute in rural Colorado. The Custer County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday afternoon that Hanme K. Clark was arrested by New Mexico State police. (Parker Seibold/The Gazette via AP)

According to court documents, their neighbor, Hanme Clark, yelled about trespassing and then started shooting while Robert Geers was talking to a surveyor.

Clark was arrested on Tuesday near Albuquerque, New Mexico, after about 25 hours on the run. Medina-Kochis was with him at the time and is believed to be his girlfriend, sheriff’s office spokesperson Reggie Foster said Friday.

First-responder vehicles remained Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023, at the site of a fatal shooting near Westcliffe, Colo. A man was on the run Tuesday after police say he fatally shot three people and critically wounded a fourth over a years-long property dispute over the use of an easement on the suspect’s property in rural Colorado, authorities said. (Parker Seibold/The Gazette via AP)

A telephone message left for the 11th District Judicial District Attorney’s office on whether prosecutors have filed charges against Clark or Medina-Kochis was not immediately returned Friday.

It is not known if either Clark or Medina-Kochis have lawyers representing them.

Other neighbors not involved in the shooting have accused Clark of harassing them, denying them court-ordered use of part of his property to access their property, and posting signs saying he was armed, court records said.

This photo posted on the Custer County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page shows Hanme K. Clark as he’s taken into custody by personnel from the New Mexico State Police and the U.S. Marshals Service, near Albuquerque, N.M., Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023. Clark was captured after 25 hours on the run after police say he fatally shot three people and critically wounded a fourth in his latest property dispute with neighbors in rural Colorado, authorities said. (Courtesy of Custer County Sheriff’s Office via AP)