It’s been more than two weeks since an Arapahoe, Wyoming, man died in a shooting on the Wind River Indian Reservation, and federal police have yet to acknowledge the shooting publicly.
Michael Standing Elk, 42, died in a shooting on Rendezvous Road on Aug. 8, Cowboy State Daily has confirmed through three reliable sources.
Fremont County Coroner Erin Ivie confirmed that her office responded to “a death” that day, and that she’s working with the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs – both federal agencies with jurisdiction on the reservation for felony-level incidents.
Ivie declined to give the victim’s age or name.
The BIA is the lead agency on the investigation, an FBI spokeswoman told Cowboy State Daily.
The BIA has not commented following a Cowboy State Daily phone call and emails.
Born And Raised
Standing Elk died Aug. 8 in Arapahoe, according to his obituary. He was born in Riverton on Nov. 3, 1980, and grew up on the Wind River Indian Reservation.
He graduated from Kicking Horse Job Corps in Montana in 2002 when he was about 22, his obituary notes.
Then he moved back to the reservation and worked for the Northern Arapaho Tribe’s utilities department, and as a security officer for the tribe’s Wind River Hotel and Casino.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
