Investigators say a late-night knock at a Broken Bow cabin ended with one friend dead and the groom charged.

BROKEN BOW, Okla. — A 22-year-old groom was charged with second-degree murder after police said he fired a 9 mm handgun during a bachelor party trip and fatally shot a friend outside a rented cabin in southeast Oklahoma.

Nolan Dain Engel was arrested after Braden Uhlmann, 21, was found with a gunshot wound to the chest just before 1 a.m. April 4 at a residence off Rockhill Circle in Broken Bow, authorities said. The case moved quickly from a weekend shooting call to a homicide investigation led by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, with help from the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office and the Hochatown Police Department. Engel later posted a $250,000 bond, according to reported court records.

Deputies first went to the cabin after receiving a report of a shooting or suspicious death at the residence, officials said. When emergency crews arrived, they found Uhlmann wounded on or near the front porch. Medical workers took him to a local hospital, where he later died. The bureau said no other injuries were reported. Engel was at the property when investigators arrived, and agents said they interviewed him during the early part of the inquiry. “Based on the information and evidence obtained, it was determined that Engel shot Uhlmann,” the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said in its public statement on the case.

Court documents described in local reports said Engel made spontaneous statements to arriving officers about being the shooter. Investigators said he told them he had been staying at the cabin with three friends for his bachelor party. Engel reportedly said he heard knocking noises, saw what he believed was a person’s shadow outside the front door and fired one round from a 9 mm handgun. After the shot, Engel and another friend went outside and found Uhlmann on the porch with a wound to the upper chest, according to the reported documents.

The basic facts leave several questions that investigators have not publicly answered. Officials have not said whether Uhlmann was armed, whether he was expected at the door, whether the men inside the cabin knew he was outside or whether alcohol played any role in the events before the gunshot. The bureau also has not released a full timeline of when Uhlmann arrived at the porch, where the others were standing inside the cabin or what physical evidence agents recovered. The public record so far centers on the single shot, Engel’s reported statements and the later discovery of Uhlmann wounded outside.

The shooting happened in the Broken Bow area, a popular cabin and lake destination in McCurtain County about 240 miles southeast of Oklahoma City. The Hochatown and Broken Bow area draws visitors for short-term cabin stays, bachelor and bachelorette trips, boating and weekends near Beavers Bend State Park. That setting made the case stand out because the death happened not in a public fight or street encounter, but at a private vacation rental where four young men had gathered for a pre-wedding trip. Authorities have described the case as active, and no agency has said the investigation is complete.

Uhlmann’s death also reached beyond Oklahoma. Public memorial accounts described him as a young man with family ties in Minnesota and Texas and a long history in sports. He had played football at Kilgore College in Texas and later attended Stephen F. Austin State University, where he was studying accounting. A memorial statement remembered him as polite, respectful and close to many families who treated him as one of their own. Those details shifted the case from a brief police report into a broader account of a 21-year-old student and athlete whose life ended during a weekend trip.

Engel was booked into the McCurtain County Jail on a second-degree murder charge after the shooting, authorities said. Second-degree murder is a serious felony accusation, but the charge remains an allegation unless prosecutors prove the case in court. Reported court records said Engel was released after posting a $250,000 bond. Earlier reports listed April 28 as his next court date, though no widely reported update on the result of that appearance was available by April 29. The public docket and any later filings are expected to show how prosecutors frame the case and whether bond conditions, preliminary hearing dates or evidence deadlines are set.

The case may turn on how investigators and prosecutors interpret the moment before the shot. Engel’s reported account described knocking noises and a shadow at the door, while the physical result was a friend struck in the chest outside the cabin. Agents will likely review statements from the other people present, emergency call records, the position of the door and porch, ballistics and any available rental property evidence. The bureau has not said whether it found surveillance footage, doorbell video or phone records tied to the shooting. Officials also have not released the full names of the other people at the cabin.

For now, the public record remains narrow but stark: a bachelor party, a late-night noise, one round fired and a fatal wound. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said it is continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the shooting with local agencies. Engel remains charged, Uhlmann’s family and friends are mourning, and the next confirmed public step is expected to come through court filings in McCurtain County.

Author note: Last updated April 29, 2026.