Driver Shoots Family: Stranded Motorist Guns Down Couple Who Stopped To Help Him

A driver stranded along a road in Montana shot and killed a family who stopped to help him, shocking the rural area in the state’s Crow Indian Reservation.

The tragic incident happened on Wednesday, when a man ran out of gas near Pryor, a town of about 600 people in the southern part of Montana. A woman, named Tana Shane, drove by and saw the stranded driver, then picked up her husband and daughter and returned to help him.

Police don’t know exactly what transpired next, but it ended with the driver shooting the family, killing Tana Shane and her husband, Jason, while injuring their daughter, Jora.

“When they came back to help him, that’s when it all took place,” Tana’s nephew Bryce Hugs told the Billings Gazette. “(He) killed both of them and then shot the daughter. It grazed her in the head and when she took off (he) shot her in the back.”

Police said the wounded daughter was not able to shed more light on the incident.

“The victim that was transported to the emergency room really doesn’t know what’s going on,” said Big Horn County Undersheriff Bart Elliott.

The shooting drew law enforcement from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Montana Highway Patrol, Big Horn County Sheriff’s Department, and the FBI. Authorities also called in a helicopter to help in the search for a 2006 silver or gray Pontiac that belonged to the Shane family.

Police said they arrested a suspect named Jesus Deniz later in Wyoming. He was reportedly taken into custody without incident.

“At this time, there is no further danger to the community,” said Todd Palmer, Special Agent with the FBI in the Salt Lake City Division.

The Montana shooting came just one day after another horrific attack against a family outside the United States. In Afghanistan, a feud between two families erupted into violence when one faction attacked the other at a wedding. The attack left 22 family members dead and 10 others wounded, MSN reported.

“There was a wedding party, which turned to a tragedy, after some armed men entered and opened fire on male guests,” Baghlan police chief General Abdul Jabar Pordeli said during a telephone interview with Reuters.

The driver accused of shooting the family who stopped to help him is now being held in the Park County Detention Center. It is not yet clear what charges he faces or whether he has been given bail.

[Image via KULR]