Belcourt, ND — On Sunday, December 29, 2024 a traffic stop at approximately 10:30 a.m. led to a fatal officer-involved-shooting (OIS) on the Turtle Mountain Reservation that left a tribal citizen dead. The deceased is 32-year-old Jordan Parisien, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians (TMBCI). The tribe said in a statement that a federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) officer has been placed on administrative leave as a result of the Dec. 30 incident, but has not released the officer’s name. It is commonly believed in the community that the involved officer was Evan Parisien — not related to Jordan — and that he was the same officer who killed Brandon Laducer four years earlier.

A video widely shared on social media shows a traffic stop involving several police vehicles and a police officer with a rifle approaching a gray full-size truck on the shoulder of a road. According to a statement made by the BIA-Turtle Mountain Agency, the vehicle was operated by Parisien who had been driving in circles on the highway near the Sky Dancer Casino in Belcourt, causing a scene, and attempting to provoke police in a car chase. According to other news reports, prior to the shooting, BIA officials stated they responded to a suicidal man with a weapon at a private home west of Belcourt. 

The video shows an armed officer approach the truck while aiming a rifle in the direction of Parisien. After the officer took multiple steps towards the vehicle, Parisien exited the driver door with both hands visibly away from his body and dropped to the ground after taking several steps. Then, the video ends. It is unclear which officer fired at Parisien and how many shots were taken. Parisien was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians said in a statement that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the BIA-Office of Justice Services (OJS) are investigating the shooting and have not revealed any other information. An officer from the incident has been placed on administrative leave and is a federal employee with the OJS, said TMBCI in a Dec. 31 press release. The U.S. Department of Justice assumes jurisdiction for all officer involved shootings on Indian lands in North Dakota. The federal government and the tribes — not the state — have criminal jurisdiction for major crimes (i.e. shootings, kidnappings, murder, arson) on Indian lands in North Dakota. 

While not much information has been revealed to the public about the shooting, one of Parisien’s relatives said to news media that officers fired 16 shots toward Jordan Parisien. Until fault has been proven, government officials, such as federal police officers, have qualified immunity that includes shielding their identity.

“We understand that this event has raised concerns, and we are here to provide clarity and updates as the investigation unfolds,” said TMBCI in a statement to the public on Dec. 31, 2024. “We ask for your patience and understanding as we allow the investigative process to proceed. Please know that we are committed to keeping you informed and upholding the principles of justice and accountability.”

Lawsuits Filed for Police Killing of Brandon Laducer in Belcourt in 2020

This is the second fatal officer-involved-shooting on the Turtle Mountain Reservation since 2020, where another Turtle Mountain community member was fatally shot by BIA police at a private residence in Belcourt. 

In August 2020, Unicorn Riot reported the BIA and North Dakota police swarmed a Belcourt home that led to a fatal shooting and left Brandon Laducer, a Turtle Mountain tribal citizen dead. Brandon’s mother filed a civil case in the United States District Court in North Dakota on August 22, 2022, alleging that multiple law enforcement agencies violated her son’s civil and constitutional rights in the encounter on August 23, 2020, that left her son dead. However, more than four years after Laducer’s killing, his mother Renee Martin has not received official results from the investigation surrounding her son’s fatal encounter with police in 2020.

Tribal Member Killed, BIA Officer Suspended, Family Knows Nothing on Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation [August 2020]

The family asked the United States for $20,000,000 in medical and financial relief. At the time of the filing, Brandon’s two children had not received his death certificate from authorities and both have been targeted and bullied by peers as a result of media coverage of the fatal shooting. His mother received a death certificate, but North Dakota Vital Records published her middle name incorrectly, making her requests for evidence more burdensome and difficult she said in an interview with Unicorn Riot.  

In the lawsuit, the plaintiff stated that multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests have not been fulfilled from Bottineau County, Rolette County, the BIA, and the U.S. Dept. of Justice. FOIA, enacted in 1966, was intended for the public to identify problems in government functions and be able to request information from U.S. government agencies. If “classified” or “sensitive” information is involved in a request, many requests are not met or answered until brought to court.

The lawsuit alleges that the BIA violated its own policy when it received assistance from neighboring law enforcement agencies in the pursuit of Laducer in Belcourt. In its own investigation, revealed in April 2022, the BIA requested support from various agencies including the U.S. Border Patrol and neighboring county sheriff’s departments including Bottineau County to assist in the apprehension of Laducer in Belcourt. But in order for the BIA to request additional assistance, a “felonious” crime must be reported on tribal lands, where there wasn’t such a crime reported. The incident reported earlier involving Laducer in Bottineau County was in a jurisdiction that does not have a cross-jurisdictional agreement with the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.

The lawsuit also stated the investigation reported that the FBI revealed that the Bottineau County incident had nothing to do with the police presence at the private residence in Belcourt that resulted in Brandon Laducer’s death. However, the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s report did state that was the sole reason why a large police presence was at the residence in Belcourt, according to the court filing. The two reports contradict each other, according to the lawsuit.

According to the court filing, local businesses were contacted about the death of Laducer before his next of kin and were contacted by BIA officer Evan Parisien. After Laducer’s death, Evan Parisien was placed on suspension but has not been officially identified as an officer who, in fact, killed Brandon. However, qualified immunity protects state and local officials including law enforcement officers from individual liability unless officials violate an established constitutional or civil right. If the court determines a law enforcement officer violated a person’s rights, their identity can be publicly revealed and they can be liable for any violations of a person’s rights.

Martin’s case against BIA and other North Dakota law enforcement officers was ultimately dismissed on April 16, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for North Dakota, but Martin appealed it. The court stated in its opinion that Martin failed to state what each law enforcement agency, as well as each individual person, did that specifically led to her son’s death. 

The lawsuit is still in federal court, said Renee Martin, who is representing the case pro se, in an interview with Unicorn Riot. “We have not received a ruling from Judge Colloton, United States District Court for the Eight District,” she said.

Three Sets of Laws on Indian Lands

In most states with federally recognized tribes, but not all, there are three separate jurisdictions that enforce three different sets of laws on Indian lands — state, federal, and tribal. Each tribal jurisdiction enforces laws specific to each Tribal Nation. For example, in North Dakota, state law enforcement would include country sheriffs and the North Dakota Highway Patrol, on state lands within Indian reservations, federal officers such as Bureau of Indian Affairs police who enforce federal laws on Indian lands within Indian reservations, and tribal police who enforce laws and statutes specific to each tribe, but only if victims are enrolled members of federally recognized tribes. If a perpetrator commits a serious felony crime such as murder or kidnapping on Indian lands, the criminal jurisdiction belongs to the federal government, regardless if the perpetrator is enrolled in a federally recognized tribe. If a victim on tribal land is not enrolled in a federally recognized tribe, the jurisdiction varies if the offender is enrolled or not. If an offender is enrolled in a federally recognized tribe commits a crime against a non-Native victim on Indian lands, the federal government resumes criminal jurisdiction, but if a non-Native commits a crime against a non-Native on Indian lands, then the state assumes criminal jurisdiction.  

“The hardships in finding the truths of our interactions with law enforcement, including officer involved shootings traces back to a history of persecution against tribes,” said University of Nevada-Las Vegas Law Professor Danielle Finn to Unicorn Riot. Finn is an enrolled Standing Rock Sioux Tribal citizen from Porcupine, North Dakota, and teaches Lakota Law at the UNLV’s William S. Boyd School of Law.  

On the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota, BIA officers cross-deputize with the Sioux County Sheriff’s Department and can make stops and arrest non-Natives on Standing Rock tribal lands. However, who has jurisdiction to prosecute an offender varies if an offender and victim are enrolled in a federally recognized tribe. 

​​”Although data on crime in Indian Country is challenging to get, officer-involved-shootings are not uncommon,” said Sacred Defense Fund’s Executive Director Chase Iron Eyes in an interview with Unicorn Riot. “Few families ever get relief, or ever find the truth out.”

Infamous tribal leaders like Chief Sitting Bull, a Hunkpapa Lakota leader, and Minneconjou Lakota leader Crazy Horse were both killed by BIA police officers in the early reservation days soon after the Oceti Sakowin — also known as the Great Sioux Nation — ceded millions of acres of their lands to live on Indian reservations. 

When asked about the most recent police killing on the Turtle Mountain Reservation, Renee Martin said, “Both killings are unjustified, but this time there is video.”  

Cover image by Niko Georgiades for Unicorn Riot via stills from Facebook video posted by Bathory Vain.

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Darren is a freelance UR contributor who has covered Indigenous issues including the U.S. Department of Interior’s “Road to Healing” Tour, the criminal case following the toppling of the Columbus statue at the Minnesota State Capitol Grounds, and protests against the use of Native mascotry. He is the Director of Media Relations for the Sacred Defense Fund and can be reached at [email protected]

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