The federal government charged a Poplar man on three counts of second-degree murder, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.

Charging documents state 73-year-old suspect Michael Joseph Ackerman, also known as Michael Joseph Littlebull, told deputies that preceding the murders he and three victims were in his Poplar home all using methamphetamine on Sept. 11.

Ackerman believed that they were “setting him up,” court documents said. Ackerman stated he was in the bedroom with one of the victims who had a pistol in her hand. Michael then picked up a 9 mm Smith & Wesson and shot her twice in the head.

Ackerman then went to another room in the household after hearing two other people who were sleeping. He allegedly shot them both. Victims included Ackerman’s wife Earlene Lucy Jones Acke

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