{"id":40773,"date":"2022-05-04T23:40:30","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T05:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-car-lot-riddled-with-bullets-in-apparent-late-night-drive-by\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:57:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:57:18","slug":"durango-car-lot-riddled-with-bullets-in-apparent-late-night-drive-by","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-car-lot-riddled-with-bullets-in-apparent-late-night-drive-by\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango car lot riddled with bullets in apparent late-night drive-by"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"David
David Wegher, owner of Whitney Auto Sales, stands next to a vehicle with a bullet hole in it Wednesday at his lot on Camino del Rio in Durango. Sometime on Sunday or Monday someone drove by and shot 12 vehicles, causing what Wegher thinks is about $40,000 in damages. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Durango Police Department is investigating what appears to be a drive-by shooting of a used car lot, in which about a dozen vehicles were sprayed with bullets.<\/p>\n

The shooting occurred early Sunday or Monday at Whitney Auto Sales, 907 Camino del Rio, across from south City Market in Durango, said David Wegher, owner of the dealership.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey shot 12 of my cars,\u201d he said Wednesday. \u201cWe\u2019ve found 15 bullet holes from a high-powered rifle. \u2026 They just riddled my cars with bullets.\u201d<\/p>\n

He estimated the damage at $35,000 to $45,000.<\/p>\n

Wegher said he is prepared to offer a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for the incident.<\/p>\n

\"A
A bullet hole in one of the vehicles at Whitney Auto Sales in Durango. The owner says a total of 12 vehicles were shot, and he has found 15 bullet holes total. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI want them caught, and we\u2019re going to do everything we can,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A man who is living homeless in the area reported being woken up by the sound of shots fired between 2 and 5 a.m. Sunday, he said.<\/p>\n

The Durango Police Department confirmed it is investigating.<\/p>\n

Detective Chris Winchester said police are trying to pinpoint the exact time of the incident. Investigators are seeking surveillance footage from south City Market and Prohibition Herb in an effort to identify the vehicle from which the shots were fired. It appears as if the vehicle was traveling northbound, based on the angle of the bullet holes, he said.<\/p>\n

Police are unsure if the shooting was a random act or if someone targeted Wegher\u2019s business, perhaps a disgruntled customer. A used car lot next to Whitney Auto Sales was not hit, nor were any other businesses or homes.<\/p>\n

Wegher said he has no doubt someone targeted his business.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no other vandalism anywhere up and down anywhere,\u201d he said. \u201cNo other people have called in on shots fired, bullet holes in their cars or anything. \u2026 They targeted this dealership as a disgruntled customer, I imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"David
David Wegher, owner of Whitney Auto Sales walks past a pickup that was shot three times. The Durango Police Department is gathering survalliance footage that might help identify the vehicle from which the bullets were fired. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He said it is unfortunate that someone would resort to shooting up a business because they are disgruntled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lived here my whole life; I\u2019ve never seen anything like this,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 It makes me sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vehicles shot include a 2012 BMW, 2017 Ford F-150 Platinum, 2020 Dodge Ram and 2019 Volvo XC40, among others. Most of the damage was done to the panels of the vehicles. At least one projectile hit a radiator, and four tires were blown out. One bullet ricocheted off a Volvo and hit the building of the business.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou lay there in bed and try to figure out who the hell hates me this bad,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Police suspect the shots were fired from a 9 mm gun, possibly a rifle.<\/p>\n

Anyone with information about the shooting or if they heard gunshots in the early hours of Sunday or Monday, is asked to call Winchester at 759-0435.<\/p>\n

shane@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

estimates damage at $35,000 to $45,000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[431,168,1065,150,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-40773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-business-general","tag-crime","tag-durango-police-department","tag-firearms","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40773"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84754,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40773\/revisions\/84754"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40773"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=40773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}