14 DAY TRIAL // FBI is investigating a shooting that lead to the death of four people, one adult and three children, on a reservation in New Town, North Dakota.
Grandmother Martha Johnson and her three grandchildren, Benjamin Schuster, 13, Julia Schuster, 10, and Luke Schuster, 6, were living on Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. The police were notified when a fourth grandchild escaped the massacre and was able to call 911.
According to International Business Times, the gruesome crimes occurred in the family home, on Sunday, November 18.
Police identified a suspect – a man in his 20s, whose identity has not been made public. A few hours after the killings, the New Town resident who was being questioned committed suicide.
The Inquisitr details the events on Sunday, in which the only person of interest in the crimes lost his life. The suspect was enrolled among tribal members on the American Indian reservation, while the family members having been shot weren't.
As a deputy and a highway patrolman asked him questions, he stabbed himself using the knife he had on. There is no mention of the man's motivation, to this point.
“It happened in front of a deputy and a highway patrolman,” Mountrail County Sheriff Ken Halvorson describes.
Speaking about the four people that lost their lives, neighbors are shocked and surprised that this could happen in their quiet community.
“This is a nice little quiet town, now this is happening,” twelve-year resident Maddie Mendoza says.
“They must not have been in their right mind,” Johnson's neighbor Chris Enno adds.
School is being called off, and the whole town is in mourning for Thanksgiving week. Three Affiliated Tribes chairman Tex Hall dubs the incident the “worst tragedy” that occurred on the reservation.
“It’s a terrible loss, especially when young kids are involved. It’s a sad, sad day,” Hall says.