A Hunkpapa Lakota chief and holy man, Sitting Bull, was killed by Lakota policeman on the 15th of December 1890. The authorities had begun to fear that Sitting Bull, a highly influential and revered figure, would lend his support to the Ghost Dance Movement, a ceremony that the Lakota believed would free their land of white people. A large group of Indian police were sent to arrest Sitting Bull to prevent this, but as his followers tried to protect him a gunfight broke out and Sitting Bull was killed.
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