The SuAnne Big Crow Recreation Center is located on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Photo by James Pendleton, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Shooting Spurs community to act
By Brandon Ecoffey
Lakota Country Times Editor
lakotacountrytimes.com PINE RIDGE -- Pine Ridge has for the past few decades had a problem with violent crime. This past Sunday, October 16 this trend was intensified as a tribal-citizen was gunned down in broad daylight. On Sunday, multiple unknown gunmen ambushed Vinny Brewer III outside of the SueAnne Big Crow Youth Development Center just east of Pine Ridge village. The assailants sprung from two vehicles Sunday afternoon prior to firing off multiple rounds that killed Brewer, while bystanders fled, and a basketball tournament was taking place only feet away inside of the Center. "We were playing our game and all of a sudden we hear somebody say 'they have guns'," said one witness. "We all just stopped playing and ran for the back doors," they added. The shooters in the incident then fled the scene before law enforcement arrived. The gangland style shooting was a first for the community of Pine Ridge as the open use of firearms is not commonplace on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The murder comes only days after Annie Clifford was shot by gang members last week. Currently three people are in federal custody for that crime. For people living on the Pine Ridge Reservation this recent escalation of violence has led to both fear and proactive responses. Parents from Little Wound School openly expressed fear about playing a high school football game in Pine Ridge due to concerns over the safety of their students. Wounded Knee District School stated in release that they would be reviewing all student safety protocols and enforcing policies at their school intended to provide a safe learning environment for its students. The OST Dept. of Public Safety also took action by bringing in more federal officers to patrol the streets, and OST Attorney General Tatewin Means said that the Oglala would begin aggressively prosecuting drug related offenses in tribal court. "We are tired of waiting on federal authorities to take action," said Means. Means said that her office would focus on drug-related crimes and would use all remedies available to them within the OST legal code. A source within one federal law enforcement office in Rapid City confirmed that the U.S Attorney's office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms were working "day and night" to solve this most recent murder. At the community level many have begun organizing events to help the community begin to recover and respond to what is seemingly acts committed by non-residents. Today in Manderson (October 20) males from across the Wound d Knee District and beyond are coming together to look at ways to address the situation. "We have been fighting with each other for so long that we allowed somebody to come into our community and kill people," said former OST council member Garfield Steele. "We want our men to look past the petty fights we have with each other so we can begin to protect our people again," he added. The meeting in Manderson has received the blessing of three elders in the community including Percy White Plume, Earl Tall, and Billy Jumping Eagle. "We have to ask ourselves is Crazy Horse would have allowed something like this to happen," said Steele. Topics at the meeting will include discussions about forming warrior societies, passing open-carry gun legislation for the reservation, and on identifying threats in the community. The meeting is set for tonight (October 20) at the Wounded Knee Cap office. In Pine Ridge village residents are planning on hosting a forum next Wednesday (October 26) on public safety. "The meeting is intended to give the community access to the people and agencies that have the answers to people's questions about the public safety issues that have become quite obvious in recent months," said organizer Karin Eagle.
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Eagle says that the meeting is the brainchild of "a small group of women from across the reservation, not an organized group, just concerned mothers and grandmothers, who met on Monday in Pine Ridge following the murder of Vinny Brewer to discuss their concerns. We determined that the immediate need was to get information out to the public that is accurate and timely and that one of the best ways to do that would be to facilitate a meeting where Information could be shared and questions and concerns could be answered." An invitation has been given to the OST Drug Task Force, the OST Council and Executive Board as well as the Law and Order Committee, OST Dept. Of Public Safety Board of Trustees, Chief of Police Mark Mesteth, the BIA Superintendent, the Criminal Investigation division, and the offices of Rep. Kristi Noem and Sen. John Thune. For more information call 605-407-8610 or email 73wambli@gmail.com. (Contact Brandon Ecoffey at editor@lakotacountrytimes.com) Find the award-winning Lakota Country Times on the Internet, Facebook and Twitter and download the new Lakota Country Times app today.
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