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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales
A celebratory event turned terrifying for parade goers at the Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial on Thursday night in New Mexico.
A SUV drove through the night parade in downtown Gallup causing people to rush to find safety.
Videos posted across social media show people watching cultural dances moments before the vehicle plowed down the street. People are seen scrambling to get out of the way.
Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez was walking the parade route.
In a live video message after the incident, Nez says they were in the path of the vehicle and were all able to quickly get out of the way.
Nez says his family, team members, and others who were with him were not physically hurt.
“This is just evil creeping into our communities. We’re all shook up. I was just feet away from this vehicle as it drove through the streets. And I’m sure a lot of people are angry a lot of emotions happening right now. I’m angry, but we also have to pray and think about our relatives and I appreciate everyone’s concern.”
Nez urged people to check on family and friends attending the parade and for those who need support to call the 9-8-8 resource help line or the Navajo Nation Department of Mental and Behavioral Health.
According to New Mexico State Police, the driver is in custody and multiple people were injured including two Gallup Police Department officers. Police are continuing to investigate the incident.
The night parade is a fan favorite of the annual ceremonial, which attracts locals and international guests to the reservation border town.
The Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial features Native arts, culture, food, and traditional and contemporary presentations.
NASA astronaut Nicole Mann (Photo: NASA)
Native American National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut Nicole Mann is part of the crew preparing to launch a U.S. commercial spacecraft to the International Space Station by the end of September.
This will be Mann’s first spaceflight since becoming an astronaut in 2013.
Mann is the NASA SpaceX Crew-5 spacecraft commander.
“I will fly myself and three other crewmates. We will launch from Kennedy Space Center in a dragon spacecraft, which is built by SpaceX. We will take a day or so to get to the International Space Station and we’ll stay on board for about six months to execute our mission. Our spacecraft will stay attached the entire time and then at the end of the mission we’ll come back home and we’ll splash down off the coast of Florida.”
The team will conduct more than 200 scientific experiments during the mission.
“Some of those are technology demonstration to help us further human exploration a lot of them are scientific investigations and research to benefit humans back on earth. So, because the space station is in microgravity there’s a lot of things we can do that that you simply can’t do on earth.”
Mann is Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes in California and says she’s proud to represent Native people.
“I think your background and your heritage is an important part of who you are and your family and the community that brought you up. I think it’s also important to then share with our communities, what amazing things our people we grew up with are executing, and what they’re doing. Hopefully there are some young Native kids that are looking and see what amazing things, amazing opportunities that they have in front of them, and a lot of those barriers that used to exist are being broken down.”
Mann is responsible for all phases of flight from launch to re-entry. She’ll serve as an Expedition 68 flight engineer aboard the station.
Mann has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.
She’s a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps and served as a test pilot in the F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet.
The public can follow the SpaceX Crew-5 Mission at nasa.gov.
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