Gunshots were reported on E. Canyon Trail and Mountain View Road, in the Verde Villages, by several 911 callers around 5:15 a.m., Monday July 25.
“Multiple gunshots were reported over night by multiple people,” Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office Public Affairs and Government Relations Director Kristin Greene stated.
YCSO deputies arrived to find two people who reported to be involved in the altercation. One other person was still being sought during the morning investigation.
Due to the concern for the safety of residents and law enforcement, YCSO SWAT team was called to the scene, however the third person of interest was located without incident a few hours later. Greene stated that a suspect was barricaded briefly but is in custody.
On Tuesday, July 26, YCSO announced the agency had arrested 3 males in connection with the gunshots on various charges relating to discharging a firearm.
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Mathew Conoboy, 20 of Cottonwood
Orion Barry, 21 of Sedona, Mathew Conoboy, 20 of Cottonwood, and one 16-year-old Cottonwood boy were taken into custody.
No one was injured. The investigation is ongoing.
There is no word as to what caused the altercation and what exactly the altercation entailed.
Christopher Fox Graham is the managing editor of the Sedona Rock Rocks News, The Camp Verde Journal and the Cottonwood Journal Extra. Hired by Larson Newspapers as a copy editor in 2004, he became assistant manager editor in October 2009 and managing editor in August 2013. Graham has won awards for editorials, investigative news reporting, headline writing, page design and community service from the Arizona Newspapers Association. Graham has also been featured in Editor & Publisher magazine. He lectures on journalism and First Amendment law and is a nationally recognized performance aka slam poet. Retired U.S. Army Col. John Mills, former director of Cybersecurity Policy, Strategy, and International Affairs referred to him as "Mr. Slam Poet." In January 2025, the International Astronomical Union formally named asteroid 29722 Chrisgraham (1999 AQ23) in his honor at the behest of Lowell Observatory, citing him as "an American journalist and longtime managing editor of Sedona Red Rock News. He is a nationally-recognized slam poet who has written and performed multiple poems about Pluto and other space themes."
