SWAT standoff in Colorado leads to arrest of Cedar City shooting suspect, getaway driver

Mark Mair, suspect wanted in Sunday morning fatal shooting in Cedar City, has been arrested in Grand Junction, Colorado, Monday. | Prior photo of Mair courtesy of Cedar City Police Department, composite image St. George/Cedar City News

Editor’s note: The correct booking photo for Elcha Hatch is included in this article. Megan Terlecky,
Information & Communication Manager with the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office, said an earlier published booking photo provided to media was incorrect.

CEDAR CITY – A suspect wanted in connection with a fatal shooting incident in Cedar City Sunday has been booked into a Colorado jail on $1 million bail.

Mark Mair, 27, was arrested Monday in Grand Junction, Colorado for his role in connection with a fatal shooting Sunday. He is being held in the Mesa County Detention Center. July 26, 2016 | Photo courtesy of Mesa County Sheriff's Office St. George/Cedar City News
Mark Mair, 27, was arrested Monday in Grand Junction, Colorado for his role in connection with a fatal shooting Sunday. July 26, 2016 | Photo courtesy of Mesa County Sheriff’s Office St. George/Cedar City News

Mark Mair, 27, was arrested Monday night in Grand Junction, Colorado during a standoff with law enforcement including SWAT teams from both Mesa County Sheriff’s Office and Grand Junction Police Department.

The warrant for Mair was for aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, and seven counts of felony discharge of a firearm and he is being held in the Mesa County Detention Facility.

Elcha Hatch, 19, was arrested at the same time for her role in allegedly assisting Mair to flee from authorities. She is being held on a warrant for obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, with a $10,000 bail.

Hatch is not yet officially booked into jail but is still being interviewed by police, said Public Information Officer for Mesa County Sheriff’s Office Megan Terlecky. 

During a parole check at 316 29 Road in Grand Junction for an unrelated matter, police discovered Hatch was at the residence.

“We had received information that Mair may be in the area so because the two were believed to be traveling together when the police found Hatch in the home police believed Mair was with her,”  Terlecky said. 

Elcha Hatch was picked up for obstruction of justice with Mark Mair who was wanted for his connection with a fatal shooting Sunday. Mesa County, Colorado July 26, 2016 | Photo courtesy of Mesa County Sheriff's Office, St. George/Cedar City News
Elcha Hatch was picked up for obstruction of justice with Mark Mair who was wanted for his connection with a fatal shooting Sunday. Mesa County, Colorado July 26, 2016 | Photo courtesy of Mesa County Sheriff’s Office, St. George/Cedar City News

Before sending in the SWAT teams police detained four people at the residence and made visual confirmation that Mair was inside the home, Terlecky added.

Both the Mesa County and Grand Junction SWAT teams then set up a perimeter around the home and after a brief standoff deployed tear gas bringing both Mair and Hatch outside without incident.

The SWAT teams were forced to deploy the tear gas after they had issued several orders to Mair calling him out of the home.

“He didn’t want to come outside,”Terlecky said. “The police set up the perimeter and followed the typical procedures. They ordered him out several times before deploying the tear gas.”

The entire operation took about four hours, authorities said.

Police are still investigating the relationship between Mair and the people who reside in the home where he was located.

“We aren’t sure at this time what exactly that relationship is,” Terlecky said. “We know there is one but investigators are still sorting that out.”

Investigators are also still looking into the motive behind Sunday’s shooting, said Cedar City Police Sgt. Jimmy Roden.

Authorities had been looking for Mair since Sunday morning as a suspect in the alleged murder of 34-year-old Cedar City resident Justin Hanna. Cedar City Police found Hanna dead at Reber Court, 515 N. 400 West, of multiple gunshot wounds.

Mair left the scene and a manhunt ensued both for him and a woman, who was reportedly driving the getaway car.  Cedar City Police and assisting agencies executed warrant searches on a Cedar City hotel room and a home in Panguitch Sunday to no avail but obtained information that suggested Hatch was the woman driving the getaway car, police said. They also believed Hatch’s mother, Michelle Partridge, and Robert Schexnayder assisted both Mair and Hatch flee to Grand Junction, Colorado.

An “attempt to locate” bulletin was distributed Monday to law enforcement agencies along Interstate 70 looking for Schexnayder’s vehicle. The vehicle was located and stopped that evening near Green River by the Utah Highway Patrol, Roden said. Schexnayder and Partridge were then taken into custody and held on arrest warrants for second-degree felony obstruction of justice.

The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office said a number of other subjects inside the home where Mair and Hatch were located were also detained and questioned, with one arrested on an unrelated warrant out of New Mexico.

Whether Mair and Hatch will be extradited is unknown at this time.

“I’m sure that is an issue the courts and the district attorney will work out,” Terlecky said.

St. George  News editor contributed to this article.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews | @tracie_sullivan

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, all rights reserved.

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5 Comments

  • ladybugavenger July 26, 2016 at 4:24 pm

    Thou shall not kill

    • .... July 26, 2016 at 8:19 pm

      Thou shall not consume someone else’s Cheetos and Coke

  • ladybugavenger July 26, 2016 at 4:25 pm

    Thou shall not murder

  • Bob July 26, 2016 at 6:23 pm

    You know the guy he killed was even scarier looking. i’m glad both of them won’t be causing any more problems. just say no to meth.

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