LAME DEER - More than 200 people came out to Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Lame Deer on Tuesday to remember Josiah Small, who was shot in killed in Yellowstone County on Nov. 7.
Family and friends fill the church to say goodbye to Small, who was also known as Josie.
Small was 32 when died last week from a gunshot wound on Cormier Road just south of Blue Creek road in Yellowstone County, and just off the Crow Reservation.
Law enforcement has provided few details and has not identified a suspect.
“Today we were celebrating the life of Josie and how he lived his life, not how it ended,” said Clayton Small, Josiah's uncle. “But our family still has big concerns, over the homicide, the way his life was taken.”
Clayton Small offered some thoughts on his nephew's death.
“What happened to my nephew is a result of the impact of colonization,” Small said. “Things like the reservations, the boarding schools, relocation to the cities, living in poverty, living on reservations, sexual assault, incarceration. These things are multigenerational in our native families.”
Small works with Native Americans in Florida to help overcome some of these issues— issues he says challenged his nephew.
“When our people struggle with substance abuse and violence and racism, it affects you,” Small said.
Josiah Small's death is another frustrating homicide in the community that has so far offered few answers.
But on Tuesday, Josie's family wanted to focus on who he was.
“He was a horseman and his dad was a cowboy and a rancher and they love rodeo, they love horses,” Small said.
Small says his nephew was looking for help and that's something the family would like to see changed for future generations of the Northern Cheyenne.
Josiah Small was buried at the Small Family Cemetery, south of Lame Deer.
