On a Sunday evening in Dickinson, North Dakota, a verbal altercation outside the Century Apartments on the 2100 block of 21st Street West shattered the quiet of November 16, 2014. The dispute ended in gunfire, leaving a 37-year-old African American man, David Porter, with multiple gunshot wounds. The incident was reported to the Dickinson Police Department at approximately 4:24 p.m.
Emergency services arrived at the scene on the south side of the apartment complex, not far from the
street. Porter, who was not a resident of Dickinson, was transported to St. Joseph's Hospital, but he succumbed to his injuries later that night. The area around the apartment complex, a well-traveled road on the north side of the city, was cordoned off for hours as investigators from the Dickinson Police Department and the North Dakota Highway Patrol processed the scene, their work illuminated by a light tower brought in by the Dickinson Fire Department.
In the immediate aftermath, law enforcement began searching for a vehicle believed to be connected to the shooting. The vehicle was described as a dark-colored Chrysler 300, possibly a model year between 2005 and 2010, with out-of-state license plates and tinted windows. Police Chief Dustin Dassinger confirmed that Porter had been shot multiple times following a verbal confrontation with the suspect or suspects.
Despite the initial investigation and the public appeal for information regarding the suspect vehicle, there have been no subsequent public announcements regarding any arrests made or suspects identified in connection with the death of David Porter. The case remains a somber memory in the community, a violent end to a verbal dispute that left a man dead and a case that, according to available online information, remains without a public resolution.
