Man found dead in Mayville remembered as pillar of local car collecting community

MAYVILLE, N.D. (Valley News Live) - A small Northern Valley community is in shock tonight after an hours-long stand-off ended with one man dead Wednesday evening.

Agents from the North Dakota BCI and the Department of Homeland Security were serving a search warrant on a property at 239 Highway 18 SE, and were assisted by Grand Forks Police’s SWAT team, bomb squad, drone team and K9 units.

Authorities say a 59-year-old man barricaded himself inside of a shop on the property once officers arrived, and he was pronounced dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound just after 6:30 p.m.

The man was found dead on the property owned by Steve and Tammy Volla, and is well known to be the home of dozens of old cars restored to pristine condition by Steve. The local collection car community says Steve was a pillar of their tight-knit group. He’s described as a kind and generous man who had an open door policy— Always welcoming anyone inside to share his love of cars with.

“He was a big mopar guy. Especially the guys who are into mopars would very much know who he is and like to see his collection. I feel he’ll be missed; There’s no doubt about that,” Duane Geir, owner of Fargo’s Finest Auto Body Shop, and member of the Valley Vintage Car Club.

All law enforcement agencies involved in Wednesday night’s incident were unable to comment on the case today and the search warrant at the center of it all is still sealed which has left a lot of room for questions and rumors to fly in the small town of Mayville.

The Traill County Sheriff’s Office says more information could be released tomorrow or early next week.

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