UPDATED at 3:30 p.m. CT
The DCI is investigating yet another officer-involved shooting in Sioux Falls.
It’s the eigth one in less than a year and this latest one involved a teenager, who at last report was still in the hospital.
“This all started with a call to Metro Communications where a male said send a cop and an ambulance because I’m about to commit a felony,” Chief of Police Jon Thum said
Police say that call came shortly after 5 yesterday afternoon from a 17-year-old boy in this northwest Sioux Fall neighborhood.
“He said he was at his ex’s house and his ex ruined his life and he was done with his life and was ready to shoot anyone or be shot by anyone,” Thum said.
A crisis negotiator tried to get the teen to drop what appeared to be a gun.
Police first used a non-lethal weapon.
“It was ineffective and at that point, the male raised the weapon at the officer and the officer returned fire with one shot striking the male,” Thum said.
Police later discovered the teen’s weapon was not real. They say it’s a sad and unfortunate situation; one that could have been avoided.
“Ultimately law enforcement kind of has to play the hand they’re dealt sometimes in these circumstances, because we’re not the ones determining action we are responding to action,” Thum said.
But the chief wouldn’t comment specifically about this shooting and whether or not it was a case of suicide by cop.
“You can look throughout the country, you can see similar suicide by cop types situations and you see how they get constructed and how they get put together and it’s a phenomenon that we’ve seen locally, but also on a national scale,” Thum said.
The teen was taken to the hospital and his condition is unknown at this time.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Police Chief Jon Thum says the 8th officer-involved shooting took place in Sioux Falls Monday evening.
The incident involved what police thought was a real handgun held by the teen that turned out to be fake, police said.
Officers were called to a neighborhood north of West Benson Road after a 17-year-old male called 911 asking the dispatcher to send cops and an ambulance because he was about to commit a felony. While dispatch was on the phone with him, they could hear what sounded like him loading a gun.
Officers responded to the northwest Sioux Falls neighborhood and a crisis negotiator tried to get the teen to drop what appeared to be a gun. Police say the teen said he was going to shoot someone in the face and shoot himself.
Police say he raised the weapon at officers and police responded with one shot. Authorities later discovered the weapon was not real.
At this point, there is no word on the teenager’s condition, and the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation is taking over the case.
