Four dead in murder-suicide on South Dakota Native American reservation

Four people were killed and one person remains in critical condition after a murder-suicide at a South Dakota Native American reservation, law enforcement officials said Saturday.

Investigators believe Colter Richard Arbach, 22, gunned down three others before shooting himself in a home in Sisseton, a city of 2,500 on the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation in South Dakota, according to a statement from the state attorney general’s office.

A fourth person has been hospitalized with critical injuries, according to the statement. Police have not identified the victims or commented on a motive. The statement did not say if Arbach, or any of the victims, were Native American.

Calls to the Sisseton-Whapeton Sioux Tribal Police seeking comment were not immediately returned.

Sisseton, located in the eastern part of the state near the Minnesota and North Dakota borders, is part of the larger Lake Traverse Reservation, which spans seven counties in South and North Dakota. The reservation is largely home to the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, which has nearly 14,000 members across the U.S., according to the tribe’s website.

Violent crimes, especially homicides, are rare in South Dakota. According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, the state had only 20 homicides in 2013, one of the lowest totals in the country.

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