CANNON BALL, N.D. — Attempted murder and other charges have been filed against a Denver woman who allegedly fired three shots at North Dakota law officers during an operation to force Dakota Access pipeline protesters off private land.
Authorities say 37-year-old Red Fawn Fallis was arrested Thursday after she allegedly pulled out a .38-caliber pistol and fired three times, narrowly missing a sheriff’s deputy. Officers didn’t return fire.
Fallis also was charged Monday with preventing arrest, possession of a concealed handgun and possession of marijuana. Court records don’t list an attorney to comment on those charges.
She faces up to 20 years in prison on the attempted murder charge.
Court records show Fallis was arrested twice in September during pipeline protests and pleaded not guilty to disorderly conduct and criminal trespass.
Meanwhile, a tribal leader said Monday that protesters seeking to stop the Dakota Access pipeline are considering a possible meeting with pipeline representatives.
Chief Arvol Looking Horse is a spiritual leader of the Great Sioux Nation. He told The Associated Press on Monday that leaders of seven tribal nations are deciding whether they will meet with representatives from Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners.
Looking Horse said tribal leaders would want any meeting to be on neutral ground. He said a meeting Wednesday in Bismarck is being discussed.
The Associated Press sent an e-mail seeking comment from Energy Transfer Partners.
Opponents of the four-state, $3.8 billion pipeline worry it will disturb cultural artifacts and threaten drinking water sources on the Standing Rock Sioux’s nearby reservation and downstream.
Protesters at the demonstration against the Dakota Access pipeline are increasingly divided over how to stop the project.
Militant younger activists are seeking more aggressive tactics, and an older crowd argues for peaceful protest centered on prayer.
The differences came to a head last week after law enforcement officers in riot gear forced hundreds of protesters off an encampment on private property. In response, some demonstrators torched three vehicles on a bridge. That created a blockade that effectively cut off easy access to the pipeline construction zone and made it harder for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and nearby residents to get to Bismarck.
Many other protesters insist that their efforts cannot resort to law breaking. They support the threat of eviction that the main camp has issued against instigators.