Charges: Man shot victim 'without provocation' using sawed-off shotgun

A 21-year-old man is accused of fatally shooting another man outside of a home in Beltrami County in late November. A witness said he killed the victim "without provocation," according to the charges against him.

Montana Cutbank, 21, of Pennington, is charged in Beltrami County District Court with second-degree intentional murder in connection with a Nov. 24 shooting outside a home at 15583 Roosevelt Road SE in Ten Lake Township. 

Cutbank was arrested four days later some 150 miles away in Duluth. He was arraigned on Tuesday, according to the Beltrami County Sheriff's Office. 

Around 9:46 p.m. on Nov. 24, deputies from Beltrami County and Cass County, as well as Leech Lake Tribal Police, responded to a report of a shooting in Ten Lake Township where they found the victim, who hasn't been identified, dead from what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head, the Beltrami County Sheriff's Office says. 

According to the complaint, law enforcement gathered information from people inside the home at the time of the shooting, including a description of the vehicle the suspect was in. 

The vehicle was located at a home in Cass Lake the next morning, charges say. Investigators determined three others were in the vehicle with Cutbank at the time of the shooting and he killed the victim "without provocation."

The witnesses told investigators that they drove to the victim's home. The victim came out of his house and approached the passenger side of the vehicle.

Cutbank, who was in the back seat, drew the sawed-off shotgun from his jacket and began arguing with the victim. He became upset and shot and killed the victim. 

The driver of the pickup went to Cass Lake, and then Cutbank fled from the others. A person in the pickup said she hid the shotgun but they later led law enforcement to its location.

Cutbank was arrested in Duluth on Nov. 28. He had a state Department of Corrections warrant out for him for absconding supervision after being convicted and imprisoned for an Itasca County robbery. 

His criminal history also includes aggravated robbery, fleeing a peace officer on foot and theft.