People question official version of police shooting, name of fatality released

This story originally was filed Oct 26, 2021.

The name of the person shot and killed by a Fort Belknap police officer early Saturday morning has been released.

Clayburn Elwood Grant, 34, was the person shot, Blaine County Sheriff and Coroner John Colby said in a release this morning.

Family and friends were scheduled to hiold a “Justice for Clayburn” rally outside of his home at 3:30 this afternoon.

People are questioning whether the account released by the tribal council at Fort Belknap are accurate.

His sister, Carla Grant, posted a video showing her brother’s body in the headlights of a vehicle with one arm behind his back, apparently in handcuffs.

She said in a Facebook post that the police shot her brother four times.

Reports are that Clayburn Grant’s significant other, Farron Haakanson, was at the scene at the time of the shooting. She changed her Facebook cover photo to “#Justice for Clayburn Say his name!!!”

Havre Daily is attempting to contact Carla Grant and Haakanson but has not received a response as yet.

Releases posted on the Fort Belknap Indian Community Council on its Facebook page Saturday and Sunday said an officer attempted to make a traffic stop in the Hays area, but the vehicle did not stop and a pursuit ensued. When the pursuit ended, the suspect reported not to have been cooperative and exhibited a weapon, the post said. That led to the officer-involved shooting and the death of the suspect, the post said.

Victim advocate Cheryl Horn of Fort Benton said that post is taking the officer at his word and ignoring what witnesses said happened, with their reports Grant was handcuffed when the officer shot him four times.

Fort Belknap referred questions by Havre Daily News Monday to the tribal administration office, which referred questions to Fort Belknap public relations official Camille Stein. Stein had not returned calls made by Havre Daily News Monday and this morning or an email this afternoon requesting details and comments by the time this was posted.

The name of the officer involved, and whether the officer still is on active duty or on leave or suspension, has not been released.

Horn said numerous complaints about that officer have been made in the past, but the police department and tribal council never have acted on the complaints.

“This is what happens when you don’t hold people accountable. Someone gets murdered,” Horn said. “ … This wasn’t a shock to people that it was that officer.”