SALT LAKE CITY — A federal grand jury indicted an officer with the Ute Tribe Fish and Wildlife Department for a shooting that left a man and woman injured in 2022.
Waneka Rosebud Cornpeach, 40, was charged with two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and two counts of assault resulting in serious bodily injury, both while within Indian Country.
Cornpeach made her initial appearance Thursday where she pleaded not guilty.
FOX 13 News previously reported that a "UTV incident" happened on July 17 and resulted in injuries to two victims, a man and a woman.
Body camera video obtained by FOX 13 News weeks after the shooting showed the man and woman riding away on their UTV from the officer and then turning back after they realized they had been shot.
Video also showed a Duchesne County Sheriff's deputy responding to the individuals and asking them where their weapons were.
The victims then told officers in video footage, “there is no weapons; she shot us.”
No weapons were recovered at the scene, even after being searched by a K-9 officer, a report noted.
Former FBI Special Agent Greg Rogers believes the facts of the same seem to warrant the indictment thus far.
"There's no question, the officer intended to harm them, she shot it two unarmed individuals, essentially over a traffic ticket, I mean, there's, there's no justification whatsoever for this shooting," he said. "The short piece of road they were on does belong to the UTE reservation, but she probably pulled them over for something like that and then it just escalated to a shooting which is again indefensible."
Weeks after the shooting, attorneys for the two victims told FOX 13 News they were home and "dealing with the aftermath of their serious injuries."
It’s unclear why the shots were fired and the indictment sheds no light on what precipitated the shootings.
Since the shooting more than a year ago, an investigation has been underway to determine exactly what happened.
