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A 27-year-old man has been charged in the July 20 shooting death of a teenage girl in Pine Ridge.

James Robert Dowty, of Pine Ridge, was charged in federal court with second-degree murder in the death of 13-year-old Te’Ca Lynn Clifford.

Authorities said Clifford was walking home with friends in the town of Pine Ridge in the early morning of July 20 when she was shot. The suspect fled the scene but was taken into custody later that day, according to the Department of the Interior’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs.

Dowty also faces a count of discharging a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges when he appeared in federal court in Rapid City on Nov. 22. Second-degree murder is punishable by up to life in prison, while Dowty's firearm charge carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years.

Dowty was transferred last week from the Pine Ridge Adult Offenders’ Facility to the Pennington County Jail, where he was being held without bail.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on a motive for Clifford’s shooting, saying the case remained under investigation.

Oglala Sioux tribal officials said two suspects had been taken into custody after Clifford’s death. No one else has been charged in the girl’s shooting.

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