PEACH SPRINGS MAN SENTENCED TO 13 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR STABBING AND SHOOTING

PHOENIX – On Nov. 28, 2012, Cooper Price Susanyatame, 20, of Peach Springs, Arizona, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Paul G. Rosenblatt to 161 months in federal prison. Susanyatame pleaded guilty on Aug. 28, 2012, to one count of assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

According to court documents, on Aug. 24, 2011, Susanyatame stabbed two victims multiple times in Peach Springs, Ariz., on the Hualapai Nation Indian Reservation. Both victims survived, but were hospitalized as a result of their injuries.

In a separate incident on Dec. 25, 2011, Susanyatame fired one shot at a minor victim who was playing outside on the Hualapai Nation Indian Reservation. The bullet missed the minor victim, but struck her grandmother in the head while she was standing inside her home. The grandmother was immediately flown to a hospital where she received treatment for her injury and survived.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Hualapai Nation Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The prosecution was conducted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Van Buskirk, District of Arizona, Phoenix.

CASE NUMBER:            CR-12-8091-PCT-PGR, CR-12-8012-PCT-PGR 
RELEASE NUMBER:     2012-227(Susanyatame)

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For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/