Content warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of murder and mentions suicide. Please take care while reading.
A North Dakota man is accused of murdering his sister and niece, and shooting his mother, on the reservation land of Spirit Lake Tribe. He reportedly told authorities that men in ski masks, who he said were chasing him, made him kill his family. He also blamed those men for his stab wounds, before he finally admitted they were self-inflicted.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the incident happened March 4 this year, when Bureau of Indian Affairs agents responded to a home on the Spirit Lake Tribe reservation in east-central North Dakota. The suspect, Johnny Gaking, 27, lived at the house with his mother Kristy, his adult sister, Tiana Sharel Walking Eagle, her 3-year-old daughter, Lokia “Lokie” Jay Lee Walking Eagle, and another family member not named in the press.
When law enforcement arrived, they found Tiana, 31, and her daughter dead from gunshot wounds to the head. Gaking’s mother, Kristy Walking Eagle Gaking, had also been shot in the head, but was alive and in and out of consciousness. She reportedly told the authorities her son, Johnny Gaking, shot her. Kristy Gaking was taken to an area hospital, where she remains in critical condition. The fourth family member later said they ran from the house as shots were fired.
“Dead, they are all dead, I didn’t do it”
As Gaking’s probable cause affidavit explains, Gaking then fled to his cousin’s home near Tokio, ND after the alleged murders and shooting, where authorities say he stabbed himself several times in the stomach, telling someone at that house, who noted Gaking’s “crazy eyes,” his family were “Dead, they are all dead,” but that he “didn’t do it.”
Gaking then left his mother’s home, and his vehicle was spotted at an area campground, and he was taken to a local hospital to treat his stab wound injuries. While en route to the hospital, Gaking told law enforcement that men in ski masks had been “stalking” him and that they made him kill his family.
At first, Gaking also blamed the men wearing ski masks for his stab wounds, but upon further interrogation he admitted he killed his sister and niece and tried to murder his mother before he attempted to take his own life.
Gaking mentioned ski-masked men earlier that day
After Gaking was arrested, authorities interviewed the fourth family member who lived in the home but who escaped. They said Gaking shot all three after complaining of masked men chasing him earlier that day, and that Gaking said he had not been sleeping, among other signs of a clear mental health crisis.
The Gaking family member who got away said the suspect told his family if they didn’t believe what he said he would kill them, and that he only escaped when Gaking stopped to reload his weapon after shooting the three others and telling the surviving Gaking family member “you’re next.”
Gaking was officially charged in federal court with his sister and niece’s murder and his mother’s attempted murder March 10, according to North Dakota’s Grand Forks Herald. He remains in custody at the Ward County Correctional Center in Minot, ND and his expected back in court March 13.
Tiana’s obituary says she “loved listening to music and spending time with family and friends.” Tiana’s daughter’s obituary calls her “a happy baby and a joy in the lives of her family.”
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Published: Mar 11, 2025 01:29 pm