Broken-down motorist who 'shot dead a couple and wounded their daughter' after they stopped to help said he killed them because 'the girl laughed at me'
Jesus Deniz , 18, is accused of killing Jason Shane, 51, and Tana Shane, 47, and injuring their daughter, Jorah Shane, 26, on Wednesday
The family were gunned down just south of Pryor, Montana, after they had allegedly stopped to help Deniz, who said he was out of gas
After he accepted a ride to a local store for gas, Deniz allegedly tried to rob them and then shot at the family
He told investigators that he opened fire because he was 'tired of waiting around' and because Jorah Shane 'had laughed at him' FBI officials said
The case is being investigated by the Indian Bureau of Affairs as the family are part of a tribe
Published: 00:35 EST, 31 July 2015 | Updated: 06:26 EST, 31 July 2015
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An 18-year-old Wyoming man accused of robbing and shooting three members of a family after asking for roadside help told investigators he opened fire after one of the victims laughed at him, an FBI agent said in a court filing Thursday.
Jason Shane, 51, and Tana Shane, 47, died in the Wednesday shooting in the small town of Pryor, Montana, FBI spokesman Todd Palmer said.
Their daughter, 26-year-old Jorah Shane, was shot in the back when she tried to run away, and she is recovering in a Billings hospital, the woman's aunt, Ada Shane, said. The family are reportedly part of the Whistling Water tribe, the Crow Nation's largest clan.
The statement by Special Agent Larry McGrail II was filed in U.S. District Court seeking a murder warrant for Jesus Deniz, also known as Jesus Deniz Mendoza, of Worland, Wyoming.
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Tana Shane, 47, and her husband Jason, 51, were killed, and daughter, Jorah, 26, was shot in the head and back, but managed to escape, after they assisted a broken down motorist in Pyror, Montana (scene pictured)
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Jesus Deniz Mendoza, 18, was detained in Wyoming by the FBI. He is accused of killing the couple and shooting their daughter after they took him to a nearby store so he could pick up gas
Two FBI agents interviewed Deniz on Wednesday, and Deniz acknowledged shooting three people with a .22 caliber rifle and then driving away in their car, McGrail's statement said.
'Deniz told the interviewing agents that he shot the victims because he was getting tired of waiting around, and because the daughter had laughed at him,' the statement said.
Deniz is being held in Park County, Wyoming, after police arrested him near Meeteetse, about 120 miles away from Pryor.
A judge's signed warrant would begin the process of returning Deniz to Montana to face charges in the killing.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Ostby scheduled an initial court appearance for Deniz on Friday.
Jorah Shane recounted to her relatives the events leading to the shooting. Her mother, Tana Shane, drove by a young man parked on the side of the road who told her he had run out of fuel, Ada Shane said.
'He's only 18, and he looked like an innocent boy,' Ada Shane said. 'Both my brother and sister-in-law have big hearts.'
Tana Shane went by her house, picked up her husband and daughter, and they drove back to the stranded car, Ada Shane said. The man pulled a gun and held it to the temple of 51-year-old Jason Shane.
Montana family shot after offering to help stranded motorist
The usually desolate road in the Montana town was filled with grieving loved ones. A suspect was arrested hours later in Wyoming
He ordered the father to stop the car and told everybody to get out, Ada Shane said. He told the family to give him their money, but the family said they had only change because they recently returned from a religious revival in Window Rock, Arizona.
The man told the family to start walking. Tana Shane told her daughter in their Native American language to run.
Jorah Shane told her aunt that she heard a shot, started running then heard bullets whizzing by her head. She fell, heard another shot, and started running again toward a church just as a car was pulling out.
She ran to the car, and the frightened driver leaped out, Ada Shane said.
Jorah Shane jumped in the driver's seat and drove to her house with the shooter still firing at her, the aunt said.
McGrail's statement largely confirmed the account by Ada Shane, though it did not name the victims and it said the driver who stopped near the church got out of the car to check on the woman's parents.
Jorah Shane was later hospitalized. A bullet had grazed her head and she had a gunshot wound to the back. She didn't know as of Thursday that her parents had been killed in the shooting, Ada Shane said.
'Last night before she went in, she told everyone to go look for her mom, she's hiding in the field,' Ada Shane said.
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A man puts his arm over the shoulder of another as they talk to a police officer on the road outside the small town. Relatives of the family said they were shot after taking the suspect to the nearest store for gas
The aunt said relatives have kept the hospital room's television off and she doesn't know how they will break the news to her.
Palmer, the FBI spokesman, declined to identify Jorah Shane as the wounded person, saying the FBI does not provide information about potential witnesses.
It is not clear whether Deniz has an attorney. Park County court officials said a hearing had not been set for Deniz.
Messages left on two phone numbers listed under Deniz's name were not returned.
A source in the Big Corn County Attorney's Office told the Daily Mail Online they believed Deniz was an American citizen of Hispanic decent.
He added the department would investigate why Deniz was in the area
Park County sheriff's spokesman Lance Mathess said his agency has been instructed by the FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs not to release any information on Deniz.
An officer spoke briefly with the wounded person, who was reportedly incoherent when taken to a hospital, Big Horn County Undersheriff Bart Elliott said.
'The victim that was transported to the emergency room really doesn't know what's going on,' Elliott said.
Sheriff's deputies responded to a 911 call about the shooting, along with officials from the Montana Highway Patrol, FBI and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
About 12,000 tribal members live on the Crow reservation. Tribal law enforcement officials referred questions to the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office of Justice Services, which declined to comment.
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The town of about 600 people is part of the Crow reservation, which is home to approximately 12,000 tribal members
I've seen this story posted all over tribal news media. I've only seen it once on national media.
IMHO, the media is messed up. Cecil the lion gets tons of coverage, but not the murders of good (native) Samaritans on a reservation, or the selling of baby body parts. Go figure.
__________________
I drink coffee so I don't kill you.
I quilt so I don't kill you.
Do you see a theme?
Faith isn't something that keeps bad things from happening. Faith is what helps us get through bad things when they do happen.
I've seen this story posted all over tribal news media. I've only seen it once on national media.
IMHO, the media is messed up. Cecil the lion gets tons of coverage, but not the murders of good (native) Samaritans on a reservation, or the selling of baby body parts. Go figure.
Didn't you get the memo? Only black lives matter--unless they are killed by other black people, then they don't matter, either. Pretty much only if they were killed by white cops. oh, and lions matter. Well, no, just this one lion. Fvck all the other lions, they don't matter.
so, to recap--black people killed by whites matter and one particular lion matters.
everyone else--especially native Americans or a white girl killed by a mexican, babies of any color, and all other lions--nobody gives a crap.
liberal logic 101
-- Edited by huskerbb on Friday 31st of July 2015 01:21:47 PM
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I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right.
Well, I could agree with you--but then we'd both be wrong.
There almost has to be a memo from the White House or somewhere so universal is the narrative among liberals.
Cop kills black guy--Rush to judgment to convict cop.
Planned parenthood sells baby parts--defend planned parenthood.
Girl gets killed by illegal alien--downplay illegal angle, focus on meaningless issue of gun control
Lion gets killed--threaten dentists family with death, ignore thousands of other lions killed
Don't know the spin on this latest issue. They'll probably blame big oil.
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I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right.
Well, I could agree with you--but then we'd both be wrong.
I'm so gullible. I pick up people all the time. G read this and told me to stop immediately. He's always had a problem with it, but let me do it anyway. He's putting a stop to it now...
Just so sad...
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America guarantees equal opportunity, not equal outcome...
thugs and lowlifes are thugs and lowlifes regardless of their particular race / color / gender--to murder innocents with impunity and without regard for their lives is to lose the right to live here among us--a poster child for capital punishment
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" the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. "--edmund burke
thugs and lowlifes are thugs and lowlifes regardless of their particular race / color / gender--to murder innocents with impunity and without regard for their lives is to lose the right to live here among us--a poster child for capital punishment
Now burns, you know you are straying from the liberal narrative.
__________________
I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right.
Well, I could agree with you--but then we'd both be wrong.
I am less worried about bikers and truck drivers than I am about 18 yr olds.
Meaning I would trust the one over the other. Especially if the trucker and bikers had some maturity on them.
This shooter is crazy. Shooting someone because they laugh at you is insane.
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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
This is an awful story. I won't get into the "why aren't the liberals out crying about attacks on Native Americans" or why the ACLU isn't. But I will say that I am tired of the out cry on criminals being profiled and not treated well.
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Sometimes you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the bug.
"Mr. Deniz is Mexican, and the Obama administration deems him a legal permanent resident who entered the country legally on May 31, 2013 — though they didn’t say how he earned that status initially."