A Houston man is accused in a West Plains shooting that left two with wounds.
Dakota Bland, 25, was arrested Tuesday and charged Thursday with two counts of felony first-degree assault, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of felony armed criminal action. He is held on $200,000 bond.
Court documents said two residents at a home in the 900 block of St. Louis St. were shot by an unknown suspect during the early morning hours of Saturday, Sept. 19. The victims told police that someone wearing a red sweatshirt and bandanna knocked on their door and fired a number of shots through a window. The police were later contacted around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22, by a resident saying a person wearing a similar sweatshirt had been seen going through vehicles in the 600 block of Woodland Ave. Police arrested the man, identified as Dakota Bland, and held him for questioning.
The next day, the South Central Correctional Center in Licking contacted the West Plains Police Department in regards to a recorded three-way phone conversation in which a shooting was discussed. In the conversation, Bland allegedly discussed the shooting with an inmate at the jail and another civilian and said the victims did not know who he was because he had covered his face.
Police say they later served a search warrant at a home in West Plains where Bland was staying and found a bandanna and sweatshirt consistent with the shooting victim’s suspect description. Police interviewed a woman that Bland was living with Thursday, who reportedly told officers that Bland came to the home the night after the shooting discussing the incident, and that she helped Bland dispose of the handgun later that evening.
Bland has a long criminal record. Records show he went to prison for a 2011 assault charge. His most recent contact with Houston police came last year after an assault at a downtown apartment complex. His listed address was West Highway 17.