Dakota Tipi double shooting a culmination of long-standing issues: former chief

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This article was published 07/04/2016 (3801 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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A community is in shock after a double shooting that’s being tied to high unemployment, substance abuse and other systemic issues on a small Manitoba reserve.

The roughly 300 residents of Dakota Tipi First Nation near Portage la Prairie were still being asked to “limit their movements” after the arrest of 31-year-old Tyson Pashe, who is accused of shooting his uncle and his cousin early Thursday.

The community was forced into lockdown until about 4 p.m., even after the suspect’s arrest about nine hours after the shooting. Dakota Tipi First Nation is 85 kilometres west of Winnipeg.

Chris Pashe, in his late 40s or early 50s, and Gracie Prince, 30, were airlifted to the Health Sciences Centre, a family member told the Free Press.

The motive behind the shooting is unclear, said Dennis Pashe, the suspect’s uncle and former chief of Dakota Tipi First Nation. He heard shots coming from his brother Chris Pashe’s home before 5 a.m. The man was shot while he slept and managed to make it to his mother’s home a few metres away to alert his family. 

“People are in shock, I guess. Traumatized. Once they get over that, we’re all praying that the people who were shot will recover,” Dennis said.

Dakota Tipi First Nation band councillor Karl Stone, Dennis and Chris Pashe’s brother, posted on his Facebook page Thursday that his brother was shot twice in the head and his niece was shot in the chest and stomach.

‘Something needs to be done’

In the post, Stone wrote: “because of the drugs flowing into many of our First Nation communities something needs to be done.” 

It’s believed Prince was shot first while at a house party the suspect had attended. The motivation behind the shooting is still unclear, but it’s apparent alcohol was involved, Dennis told the Free Press by phone from Dakota Tipi First Nation during the lockdown.

“It’s sad. A lot of people have mixed emotions. On one hand, it’s a sad act. It’s a bad thing he (the shooter) did. On the other hand, we understand the things we’ve been through as First Nations people and are going through to this day,” he said, saying the shooting is a culmination of longstanding, systemic issues on the reserve he said lead people to turn to drugs and alcohol.

Tyson Pashe was arrested around 1:20 p.m. Thursday after a brief foot chase after a tip from a local resident, police said. Charges against him have yet to be finalized.

Reached by phone at the Dakota Tipi gas bar during the lockdown, Dennis told the Free Press he saw the suspected shooter roaming freely near the local cemetery, just metres from the suspect’s home.

“I’m looking at Tyson now,” he said, adding the suspect was wearing a long coat and he couldn’t tell whether he had a gun. “He’s just walking around.”

Dennis’s son called police, who arrived about 25 minutes later and were able to chase down the suspect, arresting him between two homes on the other side of the reserve, Dennis said.

He said he was thankful police were able to make the arrest without further violence, but said several other people had spotted Tyson throughout the day prior to his arrest.

“We think Tyson was around his house, within 50 yards of his house, all day,” he said.

Manitoba RCMP Sgt. Bert Paquet said about 50 officers from Portage la Prairie and neighbouring detachments, including a canine unit, were on scene and had received dozens of tips about the suspect’s whereabouts through the day. Initially, police focused on another home where they thought the suspect was located, but ended up arresting him near his own home, he said. 

Paquet said police try to keep in mind that it “amplifies the tragedy” when suspects and victims are part of the same family. 

“From the victim’s perspective, it has to be devastating, because not only two members of the same family are shot, but a third member is the one (allegedly) responsible and being taken into custody,” Paquet said. “It doesn’t change how we approach an investigation or an incident like this, but we certainly understand the dynamics of the family and how this can affect them.”

No one was allowed in or out of Dakota Tipi First Nation until police made the arrest, Paquet said, and even after the arrest, people were advised to stay in their homes while police and forensic investigators secured the crime scenes.

Dennis said he believed Tyson had access to a handgun. RCMP didn’t say whether a gun was recovered during the arrest. Dennis said he believed his nephew had mental-health issues and had been unable to get the help he needed while serving time at Stony Mountain.

“He was convicted before and the system didn’t help him. It made him worse.”

Court records show long criminal history

Court records show Tyson Pashe has more than two dozen adult convictions. Four of them involve firearms.

His most recent sentencing occurred in July 2014, when Tyson pleaded guilty to being in possession of an assault rifle. He was given 24 1/2 months in a federal penitentiary in addition to the equivalent of 13 1/2 months of time already served, along with a lifetime ban from owning any weapons.

The facts of his arrest are unusual, according to an audio transcript the Free Press reviewed Thursday.

Winnipeg police were in the midst of an undercover project focusing on members of a criminal organization when they observed Tyson pick up the weapon, which had been placed in a Dumpster. Police were tracking the gun because it was linked to one of their key targets.

Police followed Tyson, who was joined by his common-law wife, to the Place Louis Riel in downtown Winnipeg. Tyson entered the hotel with the gun wrapped in bedsheets, then placed it inside a room that his family member had rented out. They had come in from Dakota Tipi for a funeral of a loved one, who had committed suicide, court was told.

Tyson left the suite, and was arrested on Portage Avenue by members of a tactical team. Police got a warrant to search the hotel suite, where they found the gun in a closet. A female and two young children, who were related to Tyson, were also inside at the time but apparently unaware of the gun.

Defence lawyer Martin Glazer told court his client had been going through “a difficult time” in his life but was anxious to put the matter behind him and move on with his life. No other explanation was provided for why Tyson was picking up and stashing the gun.

But Glazer said Tyson was looking forward to the future, including building on an aboriginal art business, of which he was a partner, that featured inmates’ work. He had also worked as a fitness trainer in the past and was looking to take on new clients, court was told.

Tyson ended up in Stony to serve out this sentence, and it’s believed he was only recently granted statutory release as his full sentence doesn’t expire until later this summer. As a result, his parole is likely to be revoked in addition to the new charges he’s facing.

Tyson’s other previous convictions include multiple counts of drug possession, assault causing bodily harm, driving dangerous, break-and-enter, theft and numerous breaches of court orders.

Grand Chief Terrance Nelson of the Southern Chiefs Organization expressed his condolences to the family, but said he considers the shooting “a normal result” of extreme poverty and unemployment in the community, which he said has been struggling in recent years.

“It’s tragic. A lot of the violence in our communities — not just the alcohol and the drugs — that’s the result of an unbelievable amount of extreme poverty in our communities,” Nelson said, adding many First Nation communities in the province have unemployment rates from 60 to 95 per cent.

“You need to get people employed, otherwise there’s no hope. And when they have no hope and you have young people with no jobs and stuff like that, well, what do they do?” Nelson said.

He said he’s not hopeful the shooting will prompt governments and community leaders to address root causes of substance abuse and violence in the community.

“The reality is that most people will just look at it (as) ‘Oh, the Indians are at it again.’ That’s the unfortunate thing and the reality is that there’s been tons and tons of violence in our communities. Does it motivate the government to change policies? Well, it hasn’t so far,” he said.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

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