Man charged after shooting in Bemidji Township, investigation continues

A Bemidji Township shooting that sent one man to the hospital has led to court action against 18-year-old Ray Gene Jacob Tahahawah, while investigators continue to work the case southeast of Bemidji. The victim was first treated at Sanford Bemidji Medical Emergency Department and then transferred to Sanford Medical Center in Fargo, underscoring the seriousness of the injury.

Deputies were called about 2:27 p.m. Friday, May 15, to the 1200 block of Little Norway Avenue Southeast in Bemidji Township. When emergency personnel arrived, they found an adult man who had been shot, and the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office later identified Tahahawah as the suspect. Reports said Red Lake Law Enforcement located him within the Red Lake Nation, and he was taken into custody after the shooting.

The victim’s name has not been released, and officials have said he was in stable condition after the transfer to Fargo. Court action now shifts the case from the roadside response into the criminal process, where prosecutors will decide how the charges are handled in Beltrami County.

The Bemidji area has faced several other serious violent-crime cases in recent months. On May 7, a 16-year-old Bemidji boy was charged by juvenile petition with four felony counts after allegedly shooting three people at an apartment, including his parents and a bystander, then turning himself in at a police station and saying he became “irate” after his parents revoked his cell phone privileges; officers later recovered the pistol under a pile of leaves near Bemidji Middle School. Beltrami County also saw a 2025 fatal shooting case that led to second-degree murder charges, and two suspects in a separate attempted-homicide case were later located in Bemidji.