On the evening of May 16, 2019, Danial Wayne Peterson, a 49-year-old male, was at the Ryder Star Bar in Ryder, North Dakota, when an altercation led to his untimely death. The series of events that culminated in the fatal shooting began shortly before a 911 call was placed around 10:15 p.m., reporting that a man had been shot. The incident involved one other individual, Thomas Lee Huston, a 32-year-old from the same town of Makoti.
According to the Ward County Sheriff's Department, surveillance footage from the bar captured the tragic encounter. Huston entered the establishment and confronted Peterson, leading to a brief physical struggle between the two men. After the initial confrontation, Huston began to walk towards the exit but then turned back, approached Peterson again, and brandished a handgun. He fired a single shot, which fatally wounded Peterson.
Following the shooting, Huston exited the bar and walked to the vehicle he had arrived in. It was there that he turned the gun on himself, firing another round that resulted in his own death. When sheriff's deputies arrived at the scene, they discovered Huston deceased on the ground next to a parked car from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The investigation that followed determined the incident was a murder-suicide, and law enforcement officials confirmed that there were no other suspects being sought in connection with the case.
