INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Good Samaritan Family Gunned Down By Jesus Deniz Mendoza On Montana Indian Reservation

By Lindsay McCane
Published on: 03:37 PST, Jul 31, 2015

A good Samaritan family was gunned down by 18-year-old Jesus Deniz Mendoza after they stopped to help him on a Montana Indian reservation, costing two members their lives, and leaving one member critically injured.

The shooting took place on Wednesday, July 27, after a couple and their daughter returned to help Mendoza after noticing his car was broke down on the Crow Indian Reservation, according to CNN.

Jorah Shane, the daughter of the Jason Shane, 51, and Tana Shane, 47, who were both killed, said her mother “came to her house and told her that there was a guy that needed assistance.” Trying to be good Samaritans, the trio returned to the location of Mendoza’s car and offered their help. However, upon arriving, Mendoza pulled a gun on them, ordered them to get out of their vehicle, and then demanded them to give him money. They then explained that they didn’t have any money with them.

According to the FBI, Mendoza then told the family to start walking away from the car. That is when Jorah heard the first gunshot, and looked back to see her father lying on the road. Moments later, she heard a second gunshot and heard her mother scream. Jorah then started running, after Tana told her to in their Native American language, not stopping to look back, and felt bullets hit her in the face and back. The chaos caught the attention of people near St. Charles Mission School. A car then approached Jorah, and when the driver exited the car, she jumped in and sped off. Her family later took her to a Billings hospital to receive treatment.

Jesus later told the police that he shot the three individuals with a.22 caliber rifle because he got tired of waiting around on them, and then Jorah laughed at him, upsetting him even more, the Associated Press reported, via Fox News.

According to the FBI agents, the shooter “admitted to shooting three people with a.22-caliber rifle and then driving away from the scene in the victims’ vehicle.”

A Park County Sheriff’s Office deputy arrested him several hours later in Meeteetse, about 120 miles away from Pryor, where he murdered two of the family members.

Prior to going into surgery Wednesday night, Jorah, who has four sisters and two brothers, was not aware of her parents’ tragic fate. According to her aunt Ada Shane, she repeatedly asked for them to go find her mother, who she believed to be hiding in the fields near where the shootings took place.

Ada said she wasn’t sure how to tell her that her parents were gone.

“Jorah is one always attached to her parents,” she said. “She’s always with her parents and her grandmother.”

The FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs are handling the investigation because the victims were members of the Crow Tribe, and the murders took place on the Indian reservation.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Ostby scheduled Mendoza’s initial hearing for Friday afternoon in Billings. He is currently being held at the Park County, Wyoming jail.

What punishment do you think Mendoza should receive for gunning down the good Samaritan family? Leave your comments below.

[Photo via Twitter]

Share this article: Good Samaritan Family Gunned Down By Jesus Deniz Mendoza On Montana Indian Reservation
Crime
More from Inquisitr