Wolf Point man sentenced for fatally shooting another man in the back

A Wolf Point man who admitted to fatally shooting another man in the back on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation was sentenced Tuesday to 16 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Doratello “DJ” Juan Fischer, 37, pleaded guilty in November 2021 to second-degree murder as charged in an information.

Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided.

The government alleged in court documents that on Nov. 27, 2020, Fischer shot the victim in the back with a .22-caliber rifle, killing him. Fischer had been driving around Wolf Point drinking alcohol with his girlfriend and another person that evening.

While driving down an alley, Fischer told his girlfriend to stop the car and he then got out. The victim was standing outside of a residence near the alley. Fischer shot the victim in the back with a .22-caliber rifle, got back into the vehicle with his girlfriend and sped away. The rifle was never found.

The victim was transported to Trinity Hospital in Wolf Point where he was pronounced dead. The cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the back.

The shooting occurred following a Nov. 24, 2020 incident at a Wolf Point bar where law enforcement responded to the victim brandishing a firearm and pointing it at Fischer. The day before Fischer shot the victim, Fischer used social media to communicate with another individual about the victim pointing the gun at him. Fischer said that he was planning on “coming to town to go hunting.”

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lori Harper Suek and Jared C. Cobell prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the FBI, Fort Peck Tribes Criminal Investigation and Wolf Point Police Department.