Mountrail County Sheriff's Press Release - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Mountrail County Sheriff's Press Release

Mountrail County Sheriff Ken Halvorson stated that on the afternoon of Sunday November 19, 2012, at approximately 3:17 pm the Mountrail Co 911 center in Stanley received a call from a young juvenile male who stated that someone had just came in and shot his family, but before the dispatcher was able to gather any more information from the caller, he hung up the phone.

The dispatcher was able to plot the callers phone number and address which she found to be 301 6th st N in New Town. The dispatcher then dispatched two Mountrail Co Deputies to the scene of the call and then contacted the office of the New Town Tribal Police to see if they had any officers closer to the scene than our responding Deputies.

At Approx 3:25 pm, the New Town Tribal police Dept in New Town contacted the Mountrail County 911 dispatch center and informed the dispatcher that they had an officer at the scene and that they had discover one survivor at the scene and he informed the Officer that he had made the phone call. The Officer also informed the dispatcher that he also found two children and an elderly female that had been shot. The 911 dispatcher paged the New Town ambulance to inform them of the shooting.

At approx 3:44 pm, Sheriff Halvorson had his office contact the FBI office in Minot. The responding surviving victim had informed one of the tribal officers on scene that the individual that shot his family was a dark complected adult male.

At approx 4:00 pm, ND Crime Bureau was contacted.

At approx 4:16 pm, a tribal officer informed the Sheriff's Office that when he arrived at the scene he had met an individual in a vehicle matching the description. The Sheriff then contacted state radio requesting a signal 100, which is a statewide road block for vehicles matching that description.

At approximately 7:00 pm, the Sheriff lifted the signal 100 when the person in question was found and had an explanation for why he had been seen In the area of the crime scene earlier.

Upon further investigation of the scene by the Mountrail County Sheriff's Office, officers found a fourth victim. The victims are an elderly female, 64 year Martha Johnson, 13 year old Ben Schuster, 10 year old Julia Schuster and 6 year old Luke Schuster.

The 4 victims were taken to Bismarck for autopsies. The Sheriff's Office, assisted by the FBI, ND Crime Bureau, City of New Town and the Tribal police, and the ND Highway Patrol continue to investigate the case.

At approximately 7:00 pm, and enrolled person of interest was brought to the Sheriff's office attention who had made statements in regards to the above crime. The Sheriff then informed investigators from the FBI of this information and the case was turned over to the Jurisdiction of the FBI. While the investigators were in the process of questioning him, he committed suicide. This individual's body was also taken to Bismarck for an autopsy.

At this time the above investigation continues.