On Sunday, Brandon Laducer, a 35-yr-old Turtle Mountain Chippewa man, was shot and killed by police in Belcourt, ND on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation.

Law enforcement is currently providing little details about their having shot him at his home. https://unicornriot.ninja/2020/tribal-member-killed-bia-officer-suspended-family-knows-nothing-on-turtle-mountain-indian-reservation/

Brandon Laducer has two children, a boy and a girl.

Agencies present for his shooting death included BIA (Bureau of @USIndianAffairs), the Rolette County Sheriff’s Office, the Rolette Police Department and the Rolla Police Department.

https://unicornriot.ninja/2020/tribal-member-killed-bia-officer-suspended-family-knows-nothing-on-turtle-mountain-indian-reservation/

Police interactions in Indian Country are complicated for many reasons. Jurisdiction in Indian Country varies between reservations and states.

"Indian reservations" were established through treaties throughout the 1700-1800’s between tribal nations & the USA federal government.

In the late 1880s, the USA federal government wanted to reduce reservation land bases, and also get out of its inconvenient treaty obligations to tribal nations.

So Congress passed the General Allotment Act of 1887, also known as the Dawes Act.

In an effort to continue to steal land, the Dawes Act required communally-held reservation lands to be allotted into 64-acre parcels assigned to individual members of a tribe. This led to the loss of more than 90 million acres & created a patchwork of land tenure on reservations.

Lands remaining post-allotment were opened up to non-Native settlement.

A formula was created where acreage of land would exceed members of each Indian reservation, creating so-called “surplus lands.”

As a result, reservations became blended w Native and non-Native landowners.

This variance in ownership of land created a mix of jurisdictional authority often called a “checker-board."

This “checker-board” model is important, because it dictates police powers. Either a tribe and the feds, or a tribe and a state govt, has authority over any given parcel.

1953: Eager to reduce its obligations in Indian Country, Congress moved to transfer federal jurisdictional responsibility to states, passing federal Public Law 280 (PL280). PL280 enabled 6 'mandatory states' -AK, CA, MN, NE, OR, & Wisc- to assume jurisdiction on reservations.

1968: Congress amended PL280 to authorize 'non-mandatory' states to assume jurisdiction over reservations in their borders. The amendment required tribes consent to the imposition of state jurisdiction.

Since the 1968 amendment to Public Law 280, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Washington have assumed some legal jurisdiction over reservations.

No tribe has consented to state authority over its lands.

Yet this change has significantly altered the division of legal authority among tribal, federal, and state governments.

This means navigating criminal cases and police abuses in these regions is complex and difficult.

In various states, local police, tribal police, BIA police, and the FBI are the agencies who enforce the laws of tribes, states, and the federal government.

However, Public Law 280 added that tribes cannot put non-natives on trial, even when crime occurs on reservation land.

Before PL280, the federal government and tribal courts shared jurisdiction over most legal matters on reservations. States had no jurisdiction. PL280 authorized state jurisdiction over tribal members for offenses involving Native perpetrators and/or victims.

Because North Dakota is considered a 'non-mandatory' state, the federal govt, specifically the FBI, has jurisdiction in the death of Brandon Laducer.

Due to FBI involvement, all police involved are forbidden from sharing info w/ the public or the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe.

“I don’t know all of the circumstances, but I was informed that the FBI was called immediately,” said Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribal Chairman Jamie Azure in an email.

“What we’re curious about is which officers were involved because some of them are Native, too.”

“One of our own is no longer with us, and that is a tragedy,” added Azure. “Many lives are affected in our community.”

On Monday, KFYRTV Fox West Dakota reported that a BIA Office of Justice Services officer is on administrative leave pending an investigation, according to a spokesperson with the BIA.

Further details, including the officer’s identity, are not being released at this time.

“If there is justice to be served, we should definitely pursue it,” said Stephanie Laducer, an aunt of Brandon Laducer.

“Nothing is being shared with the family since the FBI has been involved, which makes us left completely in the dark.”

When asked about the incident, FBI spokesperson Kevin Smith said there was “a shooting while officers were present” & “the circumstances of the shooting (the who, what, when, where and why) are all part of the investigation.” No other information is being shared with the public.

Brandon Laducer’s mother was notified by police that there were 5 shots fired in the incident, but according to family at least 20 shots were fired.

“Everyone knows everyone in this town,” added Stephanie Laducer. “Our community is torn apart.”

“He was kind, loving, funny, and my nephew,” Stephanie Laducer said about her nephew.

“Minutes before he died he said, ‘I love you auntie, you are one of the best people I know.’”