Sapulpa, Oklahoma

From Tulsa’s Native American Times of October 19, 2006

DA ponders slaying of Euchee man

It’s up to a Creek County prosecutor now to decide if the man that shot and killed a young Euchee man and wounded two other people will face any charges at all.

Dakota Cloud, 20, was killed following an apparent fight at a home in Sapulpa. His sister, Diane Cloud, 19, and friend Mike Solis, 19, were shot by Christopher Vanmeter, the host of a party that Solis and the Clouds attended, according deputies working for the Creek County Sheriff’s Department.

The three shooting victims managed to get back into their car following the shooting, driving into Sapulpa in order to seek help. They flagged down a passing police officer about three miles away from where the shooting happened.

They were taken to a Tulsa hospital where Dakota Cloud died following a massive loss of blood. The other two were seriously injured, but are now recovering, officials say. Investigators said charges might not be filed because the circumstances of the shooting suggest that Vanmeter acted in self-defense. The three people he shot were unarmed.

Court records show both Vanmeter and Dakota Cloud has prior criminal histories. Vanmeter had been arrested for drunk driving and Cloud had just been released from prison three weeks before the Sept. 14 shooting.