The Fort Washakie man arrested over the weekend for threatening an FBI agent had just returned home from the emergency room after sustaining gunshot wounds to his back, according to the criminal complaint in his case.
Leo Barnaby II, 45, faces up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines for allegedly threatening to shoot FBI Special Agent Scott Jensen and “take care of” Jensen’s female colleague, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming.
Shootout At The Bonfire
Barnaby’s case began when Bureau of Indian Affairs agents responded at about 5 a.m. Saturday to a shootout at a bonfire in Fort Washakie on the Wind River Indian Reservation.
A witness at the bonfire told BIA agents that he and several other people were hanging out around an outdoor fire on his property when a grey Silverado pickup pulled into his drive then pulled out again.
As the pickup drove down South Fork Road away from the bonfire, someone in the pickup started shooting at them, the witness told police. In response, the witness shot back with his AR-15.
Meanwhile …
About 45 minutes after BIA responded to the alleged shootout, Jensen visited the emergency room at SageWest Health Care in Lander.
Barnaby and another person identified as K.T. were both there, riddled with gunshot wounds.
K.T. had sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the back, according to the criminal affidavit, which avoids saying whether K.T. is male or female.
Medical personnel flew K.T. to the Wyoming Medical Center in Casper to be treated by a vascular surgeon, the affidavit says.
Barnaby had several wounds to his back right shoulder, which the ER physician told Jensen were from bullet fragments.
The Chat
Jensen visited with Barnaby in the hospital at about 5:47 that morning.
The affidavit says that Barnaby told Jensen that he and K.T. were in his Chevy Silverado that morning driving on South Fork Road. They saw several guys standing around a small bonfire outside a home.
Barnaby told Jensen that as he drove past the bonfire, the guys there all started shooting at his truck, the affidavit says.
He drove down the road until his truck quit working, Barnaby said, then went on foot to his house.
An ambulance later took him to the hospital.
Jensen gave Barnaby his business card after that interview, and Barnaby was released from the hospital minutes later, the affidavit says.
Moments Later
By 7:15 a.m. Barnaby was back home. A witness identified as L.P. drove him there, the affidavit says.
Jensen and (first reference?) Knudson went to the bonfire neighborhood hoping to examine the scene, the affidavit says, adding that they went to Barnaby’s house nearby to confirm where the shooting had happened.
Barnaby offered to drive back to the shootout scene to show Jensen where things had happened, but Jensen said he didn’t want Barnaby “going back to that house,” the affidavit says.
Barnaby grew angry and agitated that Jensen didn’t know where the house was, the affidavit alleges.
“Barnaby threatened me, stating he was going to do to me what was done to Redstar,” wrote Jensen in the affidavit.
Derek Redstar Pappan died March 25 of a short-range gunshot to the back of the head. Francis Acebo is charged with that homicide.
“He also threatened to use the rifle in his house to shoot me and the people down the street that shot his truck,” Jensen wrote, adding that Barnaby insulted a female agent and threatened to “take care of her.”
Jensen warned Barnaby that these threats were a crime, the affidavit says, alleging that Barnaby kept threatening him.
The person who drove Barnaby home allegedly told Jensen that Barnaby has several rifles in his home, which he uses for hunting. The man also said Barnaby has “an ongoing feud with some boys in the area,” says the affidavit.
Clair McFarland can be reached at:
Clair@CowboyStateDaily.com
