By Alistair Dyson Vice News, December 4, 2018 — A man who took the lives a group of people trying to escape the deadly fire at a Sioux Falls casino in 2018 was buried in the Sioux Falls Cemetery on Sunday, a ceremony the Sioux Tribe said will mark his legacy.
“It was a very emotional day.
It was an emotional day for our entire tribe.
It’s not a day to forget,” said Chris Cagle, president of the Sioux Nation Council, in a statement.
The ceremony at the cemetery, at which Cagle spoke, was attended by dozens of Native American members, including several who had died during the fire.
The ceremonies were held at a makeshift memorial at the corner of a Sioux River and the Missouri River, with a group who gathered for the service standing in the shadow of a statue of Cagle.
The group included a Sioux tribal woman and two men who had taken their own lives.
The funeral home where Cagle died said he was buried “under a flag of honor” and that he was a member of the Dakota Nation, which includes Sioux Falls.
The Sioux and other tribal nations were deeply involved in efforts to contain the fire that burned through the Sioux tribe in 2018 and killed at least 26 people.
Cagle had served in the United States Army and the military reserves for more than 15 years, and was in his mid-60s when he was shot.
His remains were taken to a Sioux burial site in the community of Pine Ridge, where relatives gathered to pay their respects.
The funeral home said his family had paid a $1,500 fee to remove his body.
Cagle was a father of five and lived in South Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with his wife, Tina.
A funeral home spokesman said his death will be “remembered by the entire community, especially those who have had the courage to step up and be a part of it.”