We want to warn you some of this video may be disturbing.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – One person is dead following a police standoff near 13th and Garfield in central Sioux Falls.
It all began around 7:30 Thursday morning, when two adults and a child arrived at a Sioux Falls hospital with stab wounds.
An officer went to the house where it happened – near Garfield Avenue and 12th Street – just before 8 a.m. Police say at that point, the suspect was still armed, so they called in the SWAT team.
Armed officers swarmed the central Sioux Falls neighborhood, including a sniper on the ground. Police surrounded a house, as negotiators communicated for over an hour with a suspect holding a knife at the door.
“And at that point in time, the suspect that was still armed, charged or confronted the officers,” Sam Clemens with the Sioux Falls Police Department said. “There was a shot that was fired and the suspect ended up dying on scene.”
Anytime there’s an officer-involved shooting the Division of Criminal Investigation takes charge of the investigation.
We want to warn you some of this video may be disturbing.
“This is probably one of the big reasons that negotiators are activated at the same time SWAT is and you never know,” Clemens said. “In this case, we knew that we had a suspect that was inside, that would not come out on his own. The goal is for these situations to end peacefully without any loss of life. And so, this is a situation that we don’t want to see.”
Clemens says there are still a lot of unknowns in this case as it is still early in the investigation.
“Certainly there’s a chance that other people could’ve witnessed this and if they did, we’d like them to call and DCI would want to talk to them,” Clemens said. “It’s all about making sure that everything is as accurate as possible. And so, if people saw this, if they have information, they should call police or Crime Stoppers and somebody should be able to get back to them.”
Clemens says that at this point they do not know the extent of the stab wounds for the victims. KELOLAND News checked in with him Thursday afternoon. He said we should get an update on the investigation at Friday morning’s police briefing.
KELOLAND News will update you on-air and online as we learn more.
