Following the shooting death of a 7-year-old Towaoc boy, Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Chairman Manuel Heart is calling for an end to the firing of weapons in Towaoc, as well as more officers in Indian Country.
Few details about the death were available as of press time, but in a 20-minute video posted online, Heart said, “An adult made a decision to do something to harm another person.”
The boy was reportedly killed between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
Montezuma-Cortez School District Superintendent Tom Burris told KSJD the district is offering crisis counseling to people affected by the death, including the boy’s classmates.
The child attended Mesa Elementary last year and transferred to Children’s Kiva Montessori Charter School this year, Burris said. Burris attended a meeting with tribal officials and staff in Towaoc on Wednesday.
Heart could not be reached for comment, but in his video he said tribal law enforcement and the FBI are investigating the shooting.
“The event was very tragic,” he said.
“This was a young boy. It was not his fault, it was not his time to go. The fault was an adult who made a bad choice to harm an innocent child.”
He asked that people let law officers do their job.
“Let them go through their process so they can bring in the person responsible and hold them accountable for the heinous act they did on a child,” Heart said in the video.
He said there has been talk by some people about revenge, but he urged that they let the justice system work.
“Please do not retaliate,” he said.
Heart asked for prayers for the family.
He said he has asked the tribal council to pass three resolutions.
One is to “extradite and dis-enroll” tribal members guilty of such crimes, and to remove non-members who commit offenses from the reservation.
Another is to “send a strong resolution to the [U.S.] Department of Justice” to assign more officers to Native American reservations, “because I’m seeing that other tribes are facing the same lack of officers in their community.”
Heart also said in the video he’ll ask for a council resolution calling for no more discharging of firearms in Towaoc or White Mesa, Utah, which is also part of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.
“No more shooting over New Year’s, no more shooting over the Fourth of July, no more shooting, period, in the communities of Towaoc and White Mesa,” he said. “We have to be stern.”
“May our creator bring us together as one today,” he said.
A GoFundMe fundraiser has been set up for the family of the boy, who is identified on that page as Zamias Lang, “a bright and loving 7-year-old.” The link is https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-zamias-langs-family-in-their-grief
The Montezuma-Cortez School District said in an email that people in need of support from the district counseling team should contact them at 970-501-0522.
