The Tanana tribal government has voted to banish two men indirectly involved in the shooting deaths of two Alaska State Troopers last week.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the Tanana Tribal Council voted unanimously Tuesday to ask Arvin Kangas and William Walsh to leave the community permanently.
Walsh is a leader of the Athabascan Nation, a small group that rejects the authority of the Alaska state government.
Kangas is the father of 19-year-old Nathanial “Satch” Kangas, who is charged with murder in the deaths of Sgt. Scott Johnson and Trooper Gabe Rich.
The two troopers were in Tanana to arrest Kangas on prior charges of driving without a license and threatening the community’s Village Public Safety Officer with a gun. The arrest led to a struggle inside the Kangas household, where the younger Kangas shot the two Troopers seven times as they tried to arrest his father.
Tanana Tribal Council chairman Curtis Sommer says the council is holding the older men accountable for rhetoric that “more or less brainwashed” Nathanial Kangas.
The council’s action will go on to review by the tribal court.
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
