Associated Press
SANTAN, Ariz. — The Gila River Indian Community has issued a temporary ban on dances after a tribal police officer was fatally shot and another wounded while responding to a reported disturbance at a Santan home, tribal officials said Sunday.
Stephen Roe Lewis, governor of the tribe south of Phoenix, said a special meeting of community council’s leaders was held Saturday night.
The council approved a temporary moratorium on all permitted and non-permitted dances in the community, effective immediately, along with enhanced penalties for trespassing and disorderly conduct, he said.
The Phoenix FBI is investigating the fatal shooting, but it has not released many details.
The Arizona Republic reported that the shooting occurred at a teenager’s birthday party in Santan, located in one of the tribal community’s seven districts.
The FBI in Phoenix said two suspects in the shooting, a man and a boy, were in custody, but no other information has been released.
Joshua Briese, who had been with the Gila River Police Department for less than a year and had not completed field training, responded to the scene along with another tribal police officer around 2 a.m. Saturday on a 911 disturbance call involving a large crowd.
Police said multiple gunshots were fired and both officers were struck, with four other people wounded.
Briese was declared dead at a hospital, and the other officer, whose name hasn’t been released yet, was listed in serious but stable condition, according to police. Briese was not an enrolled citizen of Gila River.
One of the four people wounded later died, police said. The names of the victims weren’t immediately available Sunday.
Briese, 23, was the son of a former sheriff’s deputy in Montana who also died in the line of duty.
The Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post that David Briese was killed in a November 2006 car crash.
News reports said David Briese was responding at the time to a backup call for an officer who was dealing with a combative impaired driver in Billings, Montana.
Joshua Briese grew up in Montana wanting to work in law enforcement, just like his dad. He wasn’t deterred even after his father died while on duty at age 38 in 2006.
“I actually had to try and talk him out of it a few times, but he had his heart set,” Capt. Kent O’Donnell of the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office in Billings, Montana, told azfamily.com. “He wanted to be a police officer and just wanted to make his dad proud.”
Briese did just that, recently joining the Gila River Police Department, south of Phoenix, as a tribal police officer. He was still in field training and had been with the department for less than a year when he died Saturday while on duty, just like his dad.
“They’re probably driving around patrolling up there in heaven together,” O’Donnell said, “and it makes us smile a little bit knowing that they’re together again.”
O’Donnell said he had spoken to Briese — known as “Joshie” by friends and family — just a few weeks ago.
“I’m sad I’m not going to get to see him grow up because he had a very good future,” O’Donnell told the news station.
In a separate statement, the Yellow County Sheriff’s Office said both Briese and his father, David, “left this world serving their community and doing what they loved.”
ICT contributed to this report.