Man believed to be robbery suspect who was shot by Sioux Falls police was a Watertown native
Two people are dead and a third was hospitalized following a robbery Saturday night near Hartford and a related standoff Sunday morning in Sioux Falls, according to law enforcement officials.
One of the men who died, Glenn Scott Nisich, was a Watertown native. He was shot by Sioux Falls police on Sunday.
The Sioux Falls Police Department and the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office addressed what happened in a news conference last weekend. Sioux Falls Police Chief Jon Thum and Capt. Josh Phillips with the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office both spoke about how events unfolded.
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The call came in at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday to the area of 261st Street and 464th Avenue in Hartford, Phillips said. It was at a business where an "altercation" ensued after an argument, they said.
Two people were shot before the suspect fled the scene. When law enforcement arrived, they performed life-saving measures and rendered aid to both victims but one, a 60-year-old man from Hartford, was later pronounced dead at the hospital. The victim taken to the hospital was a 45-year-old man from Colton.
That man was able to identify a suspect to law enforcement. That was Nisich, 57, who had been living in Sioux Falls, the law officers said.
Search warrant turned standoff
Members of the Sioux Falls Police Department, Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office and SWAT team responded about 4 a.m. Sunday to Nisich's residence in northeastern Sioux Falls to issue a search warrant based on what information detectives gathered at the scene of the robbery.
In the 1800 block of East 29th Street North, police made contact via phone with Nisich, who told them he was not interested in a "peaceful resolution," Thum said.
Surveillance footage captured with a police drone showed Nisich was holding a firearm, Thum said.
He was determined to be the only one at the residence.
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After 6 a.m., Thum claimed Nisich shot in the direction of law enforcement, the drone and the neighborhood. A specific number of shots wasn't given, but Thum said "it was more than one."
A law enforcement sniper on scene took a shot that incapacitated Nisich. He was pronounced dead on scene, Thum said.
The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation will be taking over the investigation, per protocol.
Thum and Phillips said they could not share more details regarding the incident that led to the initial shooting or the standoff. Whether other less-than-lethal methods were used to incapacitate Nisich was not disclosed by Thum.
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Nisich was the only suspect in the incident, Thum said.
"We desire peaceful resolutions in these types of situations," Thum said. "That's why we roll out the SWAT team. That's why we roll out the crisis negotiators with the SWAT team, that's why we bring out the elements that we can, so we can open lines of communication and give people time. But, ultimately, we respond to people's actions.
"It's tragic," Thum continued. "There's a lot of loss of life again in this whole situation."
Visitation for Nisich was set for Friday at Barnett-Lewis Funeral Home in Sioux Falls.
This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Watertown native believed to be suspect shot by Sioux Falls police
