The
Bismark area countryside echoed with screams of horror on Saturday
when a man pistol-whipped a woman from the window of his truck, then
opened fire over the heads of Standing Rock Water Protectors praying near a Bakken
Dakota Access Pipeline workspace.
A
handful of Water Protectors approached the large white truck with a
logo for Four Square Concrete LLC at a Bakken Dakota Access Pipeline
workspace Saturday. The driver, a balding white middle-aged man in a
red jacket and sunglasses, stepped out of his truck and brandished a
pistol at the crowd before returning to his truck.
Photo: John Willis
He
began to advance his truck towards the crowd in a threatening manner.
The
people directly in front of the truck shored their footing in order
to protect the people in the crowd behind them. People jumped on the
running boards on both sides in order to slow his progress. A woman
jumped on the driver’s side, gripping onto his door.
The
yet unidentified man entered a frenzied state, screaming and
shouting, his face textured with engorged veins. Then he pulled out
his gun.
In
terror filled voices, Water Protectors yelled, “Gun! He has a
loaded gun!”
He
reached through the driver’s side window and pistol whipped the
woman’s hands. She clung to the door as long as she could before he
grappled her and threw her to the ground.
Photo: John Willis
“I
really feared for this woman that he was going to pound her or shoot
her. He seemed totally out of control. He was in a white rage mode,”
said witness John Willis, a photojournalist covering the action.
She
landed on the ground, near the tires of his truck, and he sped away.
The truck was so close to her, many Water Protectors mistakenly
believed she was run over by the truck.
When
he reached a hill above the crowd, he fired his gun over the heads of
the Water Protectors. Protectors report six or seven shots. Spent
bullet shells were collected at the scene.
Photo: John Willis
The
entire event was photographed and captured on cell phone video by
witnesses on scene.
The
gun has been tentatively identified as 9mm Taurus PT92.
No
photographic evidence of armed Water Protectors has been found.
Water
Protectors are a group of Native Americans and their allies led by
the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe dedicated to ending the construction of
the Bakken Dakota Access Pipeline. Water Protectors started prayer
camps in and around the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in April.
Protectors contend they are non-violent and unarmed.
Photo: John Willis
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