ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – The Latest on the ordeal of two Native American teens who were pulled from a Colorado State University admissions tour by police (all times local):
8:50 p.m.
A Native American teenager pulled from a Colorado State University tour says he and his brother were on campus for just 20 to 30 minutes when officers began questioning them. Authorities say a woman in the group reported feeling nervous about their presence.
In this May 26, 2016 photo provided by the Gray family, Thomas Kanewakeron Gray walks in a procession during his high school graduation at Santa Fe Indian School in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Gray and his brother Lloyd Skanahwati Gray, were pulled from a Colorado State University admissions tour on Monday, April 30, 2018, after another parent became nervous about their presence and called police. (Gray Family via AP)
Nineteen-year-old Thomas Kanewakeron Gray says he and his 17-year-old brother were shocked when they were removed from the tour.
Gray says he doesn’t know who called the police, but believes the brothers were reported as a result of racial discrimination.
He says officers released the brothers after they provided an email on their phone showing they had reserved campus tour spots. By then, the tour had moved on without them.
The university called the case “sad and frustrating” and says it’s reviewing how similar incidents can be avoided or handled better in the future.
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12:22 p.m.
The mother of two Native American teenagers who police pulled from a Colorado State University campus tour after another parent said she was nervous about their presence is calling the incident “shameful on so many levels.”
Lorraine Kahneratokwas Gray told The Associated Press Thursday that her 17-year-old and 19-year-old sons saved money to travel to the school in Fort Collins.
She stayed behind in New Mexico.
She says her older son called her frantic during Monday’s encounter, saying “somebody called the police on us because we were quiet.”
Campus officers spoke to the brothers and released them. Their tour group had moved on.
The university called the case “sad and frustrating” in a campus email and is reviewing how similar incidents can be avoided or handled better in the future.
This undated photog provided by the Gray family shows 17-year-old Lloyd Skanahwati Gray. Gray was with his brother Thomas Kanewakeron Gray on Monday, April 30, 2018, when Colorado State University officials say police pulled the teens from an admissions tour because a parent in the group was nervous about their presence. (Gray Family via AP)
FILE – In this Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017 file photograph, the school logo of Cam the Ram is shown on the field before Colorado State hosts Oregon State in Colorado State’s new, on-campus stadium in the first half of an NCAA college football game in Fort Collins, Colo. The mother of two Native American teenagers who campus police pulled from a Colorado State University campus tour after a parent reported feeling nervous about them said she believes her sons were victims of racial profiling and she feared for their safety after learning about the encounter. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
FILE – In this Nov. 6, 2017 file, photo, a sculpture stands outside the front door of the veterinary school at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo. The mother of two Native American teenagers who campus police pulled from a Colorado State University campus tour after a parent reported feeling nervous about them said she believes her sons were victims of racial profiling and she feared for their safety after learning about the encounter. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
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