BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - A suspect in the shooting death of a woman on Montana’s Crow Reservation allegedly forced the victim’s car off the road and into a ditch, then shot her while her child was present, authorities said Tuesday.
Taylor Leigh Plainbull, 27, was arrested by police in Billings early Tuesday following a standoff at a motel along the city’s Airport Road where he had barricaded himself in. No injuries were reported.
The FBI on Monday had issued a warrant for Plainbull’s arrest in the killing of 26-year-old Lenita Goes Ahead and warned that he should be considered armed and dangerous.
It was unclear if Plainbull had retained an attorney. He’s scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court Wednesday to face a charge of first-degree murder.
Goes Ahead was killed Saturday in the Blue Creek area of the Crow Reservation. The Crow Tribal Executive Branch described it as an “ambush-style” homicide.
Plainbull, who had previously dated the victim, was allegedly driving a stolen truck on the reservation along the Montana-Wyoming border when he passed Goes Ahead as she was driving in the opposite direction, according to a court affidavit filed by FBI agent Aaron Christensen. The victim’s minor child and an unidentified man were also in Goes Ahead’s car.
Plainbull turned around the stolen truck and forced the victim’s vehicle off the road and into a ditch. As the man with Goes Ahead tried to call 911, Plainbull approached the vehicle and shot Goes Ahead with at least one bullet before grabbing the child and driving away, Christensen said.
Goes Ahead was pronounced dead at the scene.
The child was located later that day, the affidavit said, and both the child and the man who was in the car allegedly confirmed to investigators that Plainbull was the shooter.
The case is being handled by federal prosecutors because the crime occurred in Indian country.
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