A 14-year-old boy was fatally shot by an Ashland County sheriff's deputy on a northern Wisconsin reservation on Nov. 8, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The Ashland County Sheriff's Office stated that the deputy was responding to a call reporting an individual armed with a knife in Odanah. The responding deputy reportedly fired shots, striking and killing the teen. The boy was in eighth grade at Ashland Middle School.
While authorities did not identify the boy, family members identified the teen as Jason Pero, a Bad River Band tribal member on Lake Superior Chippewa's reservation.
According to U.S. News & World Report:
Bad River Band Chairman Robert Blanchard said he has not heard directly from sheriff's officials about why Pero was shot and he questioned why the deputy had to take the teen's life.
"This is a tragedy that should not have happened. There's other ways to do things than to pull out a gun and shoot him," Blanchard said.
Holly Gauthier, Pero's mother, told Duluth station WDIO-TV she believes her son was murdered.
"[There is] no reason you can justify shooting a 14-year-old boy," Gauthier said.
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