REGINA – RCMP continue to investigate the New Year’s Day homicide of 28-year-old Mario Kaiswatum in the Standing Buffalo First Nations.
Police have blocked off the entrance to the home where Kaiswatum was shot and killed during a house party over a dozen people attended.
Residents in Standing Buffalo say they’ve been feeling uncomfortable ever since.
“This is a really dangerous time of my life, I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Barbara Ryder, an 80-year-old grandmother who grew up on the reserve.
According to police, alcohol played a factor.
It’s a substance residents admit is plaguing their community.
“Look at the inner problems like alcoholism, the drug use, the gangs, all that stuff. The violence, how are these people getting the weapons that were used, all of that needs to be looked into,” said a mother who stopped to fill up her car at the local gas station.
But now people are speaking up.
“Things are getting worse, worse you know something has to be done,” Ryder said.
She and other are calling for leaders on the reserve to step up and commit to actions like banning alcohol.
“People look up to them, you know they look up to them for safety, for protection, for leadership and everything that resembles leadership and when they’re not there then people are afraid,” explained Gloria Moostoos, a Standing Buffalo resident.
Maurice Maple, also from the Standing Buffalo First Nation, was arrested and charged with first degree murder. He’s being treated in hospital for injuries sustained before being taken into custody.
He is expected to make his first appearance in provincial court on Monday January 4th.
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