The Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission and the University of New Mexico (UNM) Institute of American Indian Research are convening a panel as an inquiry into the death of Loreal Tsingine, who was shot five times in March 2016 by Winslow Police Officer Austin Shipley following a reported shoplifting incident at a convenience store. Shipley was exonerated of any wrongdoing and has since left the police force. The commission will convene a work session with guest panelists who will offer independent findings on the Tisingine case. The two-day work session will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 19, at the Zimmerman Library at UNM in Albuquerque. The following day, the work session will be hosted at the Navajo Nation Division of Transportation, and will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the John Pinto Conference Center, located at No. 16 Old Coalmine Road in Mentmore, N.M. Guest panelists include Melanie Yazzie of the University of California (UC); Steven Darden, vice chair of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission; Sherene Razack, UC; David Correia, UNM; Trudie Jackson, UNM; and Executive Director Armstrong Wiggins and attorney Karla General of the Indian Law Resource Center in Washington, D.C. For more information about the session, contact the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission at (928) 871-7436 or Dr. Jennifer Denetdale at jdenet@unm.edu.
