Abby woman faces attempted homicide charge
A 29-year-old Abbotsford woman is facing a possible charge of attempted first-degree homicide after allegedly firing a gun at a vehicle following a confrontation on July 5.
Wanda Rosa Collazo was arrested in the early morning hours of July 6 after officers from the Colby-Abbotsford Police Department identified her as the suspect who had fired on a vehicle as it was driving away from her house the previous night. According to a police report, a security camera at Abbyland Foods captured footage of Rosa Collazo firing two shots at a vehicle on South Seventh Street at about 2:20 a.m. on July 5.
The CAPD has requested a slew of charges against Rosa Collazo, including first-degree attempted homicide, recklessly endangering safety, possession of a firearm as a felon, possession of an electric weapon, possession of THC, resisting/fleeing an officer, felony bail jumping and endangering safety by use of a dangerous weapon.
The incident was first reported to the police by a friend of the intended victim, who was not injured in the shooting. Both Rosa Collazo and the intended victim had each previously dated the same person, which may have led to the altercation, according to police reports. The alleged victim said Rosa Collazo had recently returned to Abbotsford after getting into trouble in Ohio and was was “becoming more violent and short- fused.”
According to multiple witness statements, Rosa Collazo and several others had been drinking on the evening of July 4 and decided to go to a bar in Colby. While at the bar, Rosa Collazo allegedly got into an argument with a male party who was now dating her ex.
Rosa Collazo left the bar with several of her friends and they drove back to her place in Abbotsford, according to reports. A group of people allegedly followed her home in a pair of vehicles, and four individuals got out of their vehicles and approached the residence, based on the officer’s observations of the footage. A man identified as Rosa Collazo’s husband said the alleged victim and her friends were upset with his wife and had come to beat her up.
The alleged victim told police that she was one of the people walking toward the house, but she turned around and ran back to her vehicle after someone yelled to her that Rosa Collazo had a gun and was mad at her. The alleged victim said she saw Rosa Collazo with a pistol in her hand and heard two shots go off as the vehicle she was in drove away.
“When the shot was fired, the gun appeared to be leveled/aimed directly at the vehicle driving away from her (Rosa Collazo),” an officer wrote in his report. The officer found two casings at the scene of the shooting that matched a gun later recovered from Rosa Collazo’s vehicle.
After the incident was reported and the officer viewed the surveillance footage, police waited near the house on Seventh Street to see if Rosa Collazo would show up. Her vehicle was eventually sighted going south from Dorchester into Abbotsford, and an officer caught up with her on North Fifth Street. The officer activated his emergency lights, but Rosa Collazo kept driving and blew through the stop sign at Fifth and Linden Street, according to reports.
A second officer joined in the pursuit, and shortly thereafter, Rosa Collazo pulled into the Abbyland Foods parking lot on Seventh Street and came to a stop. Because she was the suspect in a shooting and was known to have a violent history, officers drew their weapons and waited for her to put her hands up before they ordered her out of the vehicle, according to incident reports.
Rosa Collazo was taken into custody, and a search of her Ford F-150 uncovered a 9mm pistol, a box of bullets, a stun gun, several cell phones, drug paraphernalia and power tools related to a separate criminal damage and theft complaint filed the previous day. She was brought to the Colby-Abbotsford police station for questioning, and she denied shooting the gun the night before.
Rosa Colloza was then transported to Marathon County Jail, where she remains in custody on a $250,000 bond. According to online court records, Rosa Colloza has been previously charged with multiple felonies in various counties, including charges of manufacturing/ delivering cocaine and carrying a concealed weapon in Clark County.
