Robert Robideau, 61, an American Indian activist who was acquitted of killing two FBI agents in a 1975 shootout in South Dakota, has died, his son confirmed Thursday.
Robideau had been living in Barcelona, Spain, where authorities said that his death Tuesday may have been related to seizures caused by shrapnel left in his head from an accidental explosion.
Robideau, a Portland, Ore., native, was the cousin of Leonard Peltier and a member of the American Indian Movement who had occupied the reservation town of Wounded Knee, S.D., for 71 days in 1973, two years before the shootout.
His son, Michael Robideau, said his father moved to Spain about 10 years ago and traveled widely in Europe speaking at universities on political parties and movements.
The body will be returned to Portland, his son said.
Robideau received a degree in cultural anthropology from Portland State University.
He left for South Dakota in the early 1970s with several family members, including Peltier, to join AIM and its protests against poverty and corruption on tribal reservations.
In June 1975, two FBI agents followed a man wanted in the theft of a pair of cowboy boots onto the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The agents soon came under heavy rifle fire and were killed.
The FBI identified Peltier as a suspect in the shooting and placed him on their most wanted list.
Months later, Robideau was driving Peltier’s station wagon through Kansas with other AIM members when ammunition in the car accidentally exploded.
Robideau, who was seriously injured, was arrested and tried for the FBI agent killings, but was acquitted.
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