LAKE PARK, IOWA – A tragic confrontation unfolded in this remote Northern Iowa area when a man burst into a home, uninvited, firing bullets at a victim inside, then later turned the gun on himself as cops worked for his surrender.
The The Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office Communications Center received a call from Lakes Regional Healthcare on February 27, 2024, reporting that a man, later identified as 46-year-old Nakoma Wells of Spirit Lake had self-admitted himself to the emergency room with gunshot wounds. Law Enforcement arrived and it was determined that Wells had been shot by 32-year-old Samuel Alan Stoller of Okoboji at the rural Lake Park address of 1818 130th Street.
Unannounced, Stoller entered the 130th Street home and confronted the two occupants, Nakoma Wells and Kristina Ritzer, with a handgun, eventually shooting Wells in the arm and torso. Wells was able to flee the home and drove himself to the hospital. Ritzer was not harmed.
Sheriff’s deputies, along with other local law enforcement, secured a perimeter around this residence. A sheriff’s deputy was able to make contact with Stoller by telephone and attempts were made to get Stoller to come outside and surrender to law enforcement. Stoller turned the gun on himself, police say. Law Enforcement entered the residence and secured the scene. Medical personnel transported Stoller to Lakes Regional Healthcare. After being transferred from Lakes Regional Healthcare to a Des Moines Hospital, Stoller died of the self-inflicted gunshot wound.
