Editing Leonard Peltier (section)

== Shootout at Pine Ridge ==
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On June 26, 1975, FBI Special Agents Ronald Arthur Williams<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ronald A. Williams |url=https://www.fbi.gov/history/wall-of-honor/ronald-a-williams |access-date=June 1, 2022 |website=Federal Bureau of Investigation |language=en-us}}</ref> and Jack Ross Coler<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jack R. Coler |url=https://www.fbi.gov/history/wall-of-honor/jack-r-coler |access-date=June 1, 2022 |website=Federal Bureau of Investigation |language=en-us}}</ref> returned to Pine Ridge to continue searching for a young man named Jimmy Eagle. According to FBI publications, he was wanted for questioning in connection with the recent assault of two local ranch hands and theft of a pair of cowboy boots.<ref name=":02">{{cite web |date=September 25, 2012 |title=The RESMURS Case |publisher=[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] |url=http://www.fbi.gov/minneas/about-us/history-1/the-resmurs-case |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925163029/http://www.fbi.gov/minneapolis/about-us/history-1/the-resmurs-case |archive-date=September 25, 2012 |access-date=March 27, 2018}}</ref>

Around 11:50 a.m., Williams and Coler, driving two separate unmarked cars, radioed that they were following a white and red [[Chevrolet Suburban#Fifth generation (1960)|Chevrolet Suburban Carryall]], reportedly carrying Peltier, Norman Charles, and Joe Stuntz. Peltier had an outstanding federal warrant for the attempted murder of a Milwaukee police officer, although Williams and Coler were not aware of this. Charles had met with Williams and Coler the evening before, when the agents explained to Charles they were looking for Eagle. After turning off [[U.S. Route 18 in South Dakota|US 18]] into the Jumping Bull Ranch, where the Jumping Bull family had allowed AIM to camp, the occupants of the Suburban stopped and exited the vehicle. A firefight ensued.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":02" />

According to other FBI agents' recollection (of unrecorded radio transmissions),<ref name=":02" /> Williams radioed to a local dispatch that he and Coler had come under fire from the vehicle's occupants and would be killed if reinforcements did not arrive. He next radioed that they both had been shot. FBI Special Agent Gary Adams was the first to respond to Williams' call for assistance from {{convert|12|mi|km|spell=in}} away. But he and the other responding BIA officers also came under gunfire. They were unable to reach Coler and Williams in time, as both agents died within the first ten minutes of gunfire. It was not until about 4:25&nbsp;p.m. that authorities recovered the bodies of Williams and Coler from Coler's vehicle. The FBI has stated that Norman Charles fired at the agents with a stolen British [[.308 Winchester|.308]] rifle, and Peltier from an [[AR-15–style rifle|AR-15]] rifle. The two agents had fired a total of five shots: two from Williams' handgun, one from Coler's handgun, one from Coler's rifle, and one from Coler's shotgun. In total, 125 bullet holes were found in the agents' vehicles, many from a [[.223 Remington]] AR-15 rifle.<ref name=":02" /> Coler was 28 years old and Williams was 27.<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://time.com/archive/6846958/indians-the-pine-ridge-shootout/ |title=INDIANS: The Pine Ridge Shootout |date=July 7, 1975 |magazine=Time}}</ref>

The FBI reported that Williams received a [[defense wound|defensive wound]] to his right hand (as he attempted to shield his face) from a bullet that passed through his hand into his head. Williams was shot in the body and foot, before the lethal contact shot to the head. Coler, incapacitated from earlier bullet wounds, was shot twice in the head.<ref name=":02" />

Williams's car was driven into the AIM camp farther south on the Jumping Bull property and stripped.  The agents' guns were stolen. Allegedly, Darrelle Butler took Williams' handgun, Peltier took Coler's, and [[Robert Robideau]] took Coler's .308 and shotgun.<ref name=":02" /> Stuntz was found wearing Coler's FBI jacket after he was shot and killed by a [[Bureau of Indian Affairs|BIA]] agent later that day.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 19, 2023 |title=The Leonard Peltier Trial: An Account |url=https://www.famous-trials.com/leonardpeltier/748-home |access-date=September 19, 2023}}</ref>

=== Aftermath ===
At least three men were arrested in connection with the shooting: Peltier, Robert Robideau, and Darrelle "Dino" Butler, all AIM members who were present at the Jumping Bull compound at the time of the shootings.

Peltier provided numerous alibis to several people about his activities on the morning of the attacks.<ref name=":62">"[http://www.indiancountrynews.com/index.php/news/investigations/leonard-peltier/20-demain-editorial Leonard Peltier's Different Views of June 26, 1975] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210224210420/https://www.indiancountrynews.com/index.php/news/investigations/leonard-peltier/20-demain-editorial |date=February 24, 2021 }}", ''News from Indian Country''</ref> In an interview for [[Peter Matthiessen]]'s  1983 book ''[[In the Spirit of Crazy Horse (book)|In the Spirit of Crazy Horse]]'', Peltier described working on a car in Oglala, claiming he had driven back to the Jumping Bull Compound about an hour before the shooting started.<ref name=":62" /> In an interview with Lee Hill, though, he described being awakened in his tent at the ranch encampment by the sound of gunshots;<ref name=":62" /> but to Harvey Arden, for ''Prison Writings'', he described enjoying the beautiful morning before he heard the firing.<ref name=":62" /> In his 1999 memoir ''Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance'', Peltier admitted to participating in the shootout but said he did not kill the FBI agents.<ref name="Ezzo 2013 35–99"/><ref name="book71" />

On September 5, Butler was arrested; Agent Williams' handgun and ammunition were recovered from an automobile in the vicinity. Four days later, Peltier bought a station wagon.<ref name=":02" /> The following day, AIM member Robideau,{{efn|Robideau died February 17, 2009, in Spain from seizures related to brain injuries from the car explosion.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}}} Charles and Anderson were injured in the accidental explosion of ammunition from Peltier's station wagon on the [[Kansas Turnpike]] close to [[Wichita, Kansas|Wichita]]. Coler's .308 and an [[ArmaLite AR-15|AR-15]] were found in the burned vehicle. The FBI forwarded a description of a recreational vehicle (RV) and Peltier's Plymouth station wagon to law enforcement during the hunt for the suspects. The RV was stopped by an [[Oregon State Police|Oregon state trooper]], but the driver, later discovered to be Peltier, fled on foot after a small shootout. Peltier's thumbprint and Coler's handgun were discovered under the RV's front seat.<ref name=":02" />