Man arrested on Navajo Nation in Utah in fatal shooting of a Colorado boy on tribal lands

A man wanted in the fatal shooting of a 7-year-old boy on a tribal reservation in Colorado earlier this month has been arrested, authorities said.

Jeremiah Hight, 23, was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon on a mesa west of Oljato, Utah, on the Navajo Nation reservation by members of the Navajo Police Department’s dog team and the Bureau of Indian Affairs drug enforcement division, Navajo police said. Authorities had been looking for Hight for several days before finding him in a remote area, Navajo police spokesperson Chrissy Largo said Thursday.

It was not immediately known if Hight had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

Hight’s arrest came about 24 hours after the FBI announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction in a Dec. 11 shooting at a home in Towaoc, Colorado, on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation. The town is about 110 miles (177 kilometers) east of where Hight was found.

The FBI investigates serious crimes on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation in the Four Corners region, where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado meet.

Authorities have not released any details about what led up to the shooting.

The boy who died was identified as Zamias Lang. An online fundraiser for his funeral described him as a “bright and loving” child.

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