Murphy Sentenced To 15 Years For Murder In Wolf Point
A man from Wolf Point who shot and killed one man and wounded another last fall was sentenced on Wednesday, June 10, to 188 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, Acting U.S. Attorney Mark Steger Smith said.
Ethan Louis Murphy, 27, pleaded guilty in February to one count of second degree murder and one count of using a firearm in a crime of violence.
U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided.
The government alleged in court documents that Murphy, carrying a handgun, walked up to two men in a grocery store parking lot and shot them, killing one and injuring the other.
Law enforcement first responded at 8:41 p.m. Sept. 28, 2025, when a 911 call reported gunshots in the Wolf Point Albertsons parking lot on the Fort Peck Reservation. Wolf Point police officers arrived and found two men on the ground, one of them dead from a gunshot wound to the head and the other injured.
Officers with Fort Peck Tribal Criminal Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the scene and collected four 9mm Luger casings. Surveillance from the grocery store showed Murphy walking up to one of the victims with his gun drawn and shooting him a single time in the head when the victim pulled out a black machete. Murphy then shot the second victim.
Murphy turned himself in two days later on Sept. 30, 2025. Law enforcement found him in the passenger seat of a car with the pistol and ammunition they later matched to the shooting.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case. The FBI, Fort Peck Tribes Department of Law and Justice and the Wolf Point Police Department conducted the investigation.
