Woman seeks clues about who shot her July 3 in church parking lot during fireworks show

• Katelynn Sinclair with her friends and family met up at the Sagebrush Church at 1501 Sunrise Parkway in Farmington on the night of July 3.
• Sinclair was shot once in her left shoulder blade and suffered a fractured rib from the bullett.
• Anyone with information on the case can call the Farmington police detective line at 505-599-1068 and reference case #2021-00035122.

FARMINGTON — A Bloomfield woman who was shot once in the back on July 3 while in a crowded church parking lot to watch a fireworks show is asking for the public’s help as police search for information about the shooter.

Katelynn Sinclair was with friends and family at the Sagebrush Church at 1501 Sunrise Parkway in Farmington on the night of July 3.

She told The Daily Times that within two to three minutes of arriving in the church parking lot she felt a very uncomfortable pain in her back.

Katelynn Sinclair initially thought she was hit with a coat zipper by one of her children, but the pain began to grow in intensity and she thought she might have been hit by a firework.

She then learned from her husband, Tyrell Sinclair, that there was a very small hole in her bra strap.

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“He pulled it aside and, when he pulled it aside, there was a puncture wound in my left shoulder blade,” Sinclair said. “He looked at my best friend and my brother-in-law and said, ‘We got to go now,’” Katelynn Sinclair said.

'Makes me count my blessings'

For Katelynn Sinclair, it was when her husband told the ER nurse she has been shot that the situation really hit her.

“When those words came out, I completely lost it,” Katelynn Sinclair said.

A surgeon told her the bullet ricocheted off her left shoulder blade and then hit a rib, causing a small fracture.

The bullet resides in the area between a rib and her heart muscle, according to Katelynn Sinclair. She said it would cause more damage if they tried to remove it, as it resides between two different sets of muscles.

She said she feels lucky that the gunshot wound caused minimal damage and did not strike her husband, her four children or any of her friends.

“It was definitely an eye opener, it really makes me count my blessings every single day,” Katelynn Sinclair said.

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Farmington police still looking for leads

The Farmington police investigation has not yielded the leads that Katelynn Sinclair  hoped it would. Investigators reviewed the video footage from the church and it did not show much. The audio was also not helpful due to all the fireworks that were being set off.

The security camera system at the Social Security Administration office at the intersection of Sunrise Parkway and North Butler Avenue was not working that day, Katelynn Sinclair said.

Farmington Police Department spokesperson Nicole Brown confirmed that the church video did not provide many leads.

“Somebody’s got to know something. There was a lot of people in that area that night,” Katelynn Sinclair said.

Katelynn has been recovering from the injury, which she said made it difficult to do work on her farm, but she said she is feeling stronger as time goes on.

Anyone with information on the case can call the Farmington police detective line at 505-599-1068 and reference case #2021-00035122.

Joshua Kellogg covers breaking news for The Daily Times. He can be reached at 505-564-4627 or via email at jkellogg@daily-times.com.

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