03/29/2005

Family of Red Lake shooting victim upset over media limits

RED LAKE, Minn. (AP) -- The father and sister of a Red Lake school shooting victim on March 23 criticized officials on this Indian reservation for the strict limits they initially placed on journalists trying to cover the story.

A day earlier, police with guns drawn arrested two photographers and confiscated camera equipment. Reporters and photographers were held in a parking lot at the reservation jail and told not to leave Minnesota 1, the main highway, as they enter and exit the reservation.

By the night of March 24, tribal authorities lifted most restrictions on reporters traveling in the reservation.

Francis Brun and Victoria Brun, the father and sister of Red Lake High School security guard Derrick Brun, said they and other family members want to share stories of those killed.

"The media shouldn't be censored like this," Victoria Brun said March 23. "The families want people to know about their loved ones."

The Bruns said a cousin, Nancy Richards, was dispatched by the family March 23 to make a statement about Derrick to the media. They said Tribal Chairman Floyd Jourdain stopped her and questioned her, though he ultimately allowed her to make the statement.

"I think it's depriving people of the right to express their feelings," Francis Brun said.

Derrick Brun, 28, was a security guard at Red Lake High School and the first person at the school to be shot by alleged gunman Jeff Weise.

On March 22, after journalists spread out across town to cover the deadliest school shooting since Columbine, the band ordered reporters and photographers not to knock on doors or stray from the main highway through town.

"Exiting this road constitutes trespassing," according to a flier handed out by tribal officials. "Repeated attempts to interview witnesses is viewed as interfering with a federal investigation. Under the Authority of the Red Lake Tribal Chairman, you may be removed from the Reservation."

Later, tribal police arrested two photographers, including one working for The Associated Press. They confiscated the AP photographer's camera and an electronic disk and kept a fanny pack containing photographic equipment belonging to the other photographer, who was working for Getty Images.

The AP photographer, J. Pat Carter, said the two were driving on the main highway, which they believed was permissible, taking pictures of a roadside memorial.

A moment later, several police cars pulled them over and confronted the pair with guns drawn.

One of the officers said Carter had a gun in his vehicle. Carter insisted he had no weapon and believed the officers saw his photo equipment. After being handcuffed briefly, the two were released. After the AP appealed to the tribe, the gear of both photographers was returned the afternoon of March 23 and appeared to be in good working order.

In most U.S. communities, police could not chase journalists off public streets. But the U.S. Department of Justice classifies Indian tribes as "domestic dependent nations." While Congress has power over Indian affairs, tribes have sovereign powers over their members and their territory.

Kevin Washburn, a University of Minnesota law professor who specializes in law on Indian reservations, said the tribe has the power to say who can enter the reservation. Although tribes generally cannot infringe on First Amendment rights, there's no outside enforcement.