More witnesses describe fatal 2023 shooting

The second day of a murder trial in Brandon heard testimony from three more witnesses to a 2023 fatal shooting in Sioux Valley Dakota Nation.

Jeremy Blacksmith, 43, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of 21-year-old Blaze Tacan, along with two weapons offences.

Crown attorneys Sarah Kok and Rich Lonstrup called the witnesses to the stand in Court of King’s Bench on Tuesday.

Shawn Chippeway, 42, said he was sitting in his truck on the afternoon of Aug. 5, 2023, chatting with his two brothers and sister, when he heard a gunshot and saw a man fall to the ground “like a sack of potatoes” in his rearview mirror.

Chippeway lived in Sagkeeng First Nation and was visiting his family in Sioux Valley. The siblings were outside Chippeway’s stepmother’s house when he said he heard an argument leading up to the shooting.

Chippeway said he saw two men, one wearing a red shirt, come out of a house and walk toward another man, who was standing on the road, yelling and waving his arms. He said he didn’t get a good look at any of the men’s faces and didn’t know their names.

The man in the red shirt approached the man on the road, Chippeway said.

“A few moments later, I heard a gunshot,” he said. “I kind of glanced in the back, then I see the guy … go down.”

He said he put his head down and thought “they would be coming to my vehicle next.”

Chippeway said he heard another man telling the man in the red shirt to “come on” in a rushed tone before they went back to the house they came from.

People from another house approached the man’s body and were crying, he testified.

Another man who was with Chippeway and called 911 when he saw the fatal shooting also took the stand.

The 38-year-old said he saw Tacan and Blacksmith interacting with each other. While he didn’t know Tacan well, he said he had seen him around the community.

“It sounded like he was trying to resolve an issue,” he said.

Kok asked him what he meant by that, and he said that there had been a shooting the week prior.

“To me, it seemed like it was going to be a clean, old, let’s-resolve-this fistfight.

“I didn’t really want to pay too much attention to what was going on because, you know, it’s the rez, we see it all the time,” he testified through tears. “It was just unexpected — the bang and watching. It’s not something you want to see.”

He said Blacksmith walked up to the road where Tacan’s body was, “almost to confirm his kill.”

He said he immediately called 911. First Nations safety officers showed up on the scene, and it took roughly 30 to 45 minutes for emergency medical services to arrive, he estimated.

He said a youth, whose name cannot be published under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was with Blacksmith and telling him to hurry up after Blacksmith shot Tacan. He said the youth was wearing a red duffel bag.

An 18-year-old man, who was walking with Tacan when he was shot, was the last to take the stand on Tuesday. The Sun cannot name the man since he was a youth when he gave a statement to police two days after the shooting.

The Crown attorneys played his recorded statement, in which he said he and Tacan went for a walk and he fell behind Tacan a few paces. He said Tacan and Blacksmith started to argue when Tacan was passing by his property.

He testified that he saw Blacksmith reach into a bush, and while he didn’t get a good look at the gun, he heard a bang and saw Tacan fall.

Defence lawyer Anthony Dawson repeated some of the questions that police asked during the witness’s statement.

“You said in your statement that it was Jeremy he was arguing with?” Dawson asked.

He responded by saying that he couldn’t see who it was. He responded to many of Dawson’s questions by saying that he didn’t know or couldn’t remember.

“Would it be fair to say that your memory back then was better than it is now, two years later?” Dawson asked. The witness agreed.

The trial continues.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com