One killed, one injured in Saturday shooting in Hartford; Sioux Falls SWAT sniper shoots, kills suspect

Jul. 3—SIOUX FALLS — Two people are dead after a double shooting near Hartford on Saturday led Sioux Falls Police to shoot and kill a suspect in a northeastern Sioux Falls neighborhood early Sunday morning.

At approximately 9:30 p.m. Saturday, authorities in Minnehaha County were called to a business near the intersection of 260th Street and 464th Avenue for a report of gunshots and a robbery.

According to Capt. Josh Phillips, deputies quickly arrived on scene to find two victims who had both sustained gunshot wounds. Life-saving measures were performed on both victims before they were transported to a Sioux Falls hospital.

As one victim, a 45-year-old Colton man, received medical treatment, he was able to provide authorities with the identity of the alleged shooter: 57-year-old Glenn Nisich, of Sioux Falls.

The other victim, a 60-year-old Hartford man, died at the hospital from the injuries he sustained in the shooting. The 45-year-old Colton man was in critical, but stable condition late Sunday morning, according to Phillips.

As investigators worked the scene of the shooting near Hartford, deputies with the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office made contact with the Sioux Falls Police Department and obtained a warrant for Nisich's residence in the 1800 block of East 29th Street North, in northeastern Sioux Falls — roughly 14 miles east of the scene of the shooting.

"The Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office works closely with the Sioux Falls Police Department, so that's obviously on our radar. Understanding that the alleged suspect was in the Sioux Falls area, the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office obtained a search warrant ... and turned it over to the Sioux Falls Police Department for service," said Sioux Falls Police Chief Jon Thum. "We immediately, given the severity of what had occurred, partnered with the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office SWAT team, as well, and the Sioux Falls Police Department SWAT team arrived to serve that search warrant."

As authorities executed the search warrant at approximately 4 a.m. Sunday, a perimeter was established and crisis negotiation units made contact with Nisich over the phone.

"[Nisich] quickly specified that he had no intentions of allowing us to serve that warrant, and that he was not interested in a peaceful resolution in this event," Thum said. "We continued to speak with him through our negotiators, at which point he did acknowledge to us his involvement in the incident in Hartford and provide some details to our negotiators."

Through the use of a drone, authorities say they determined Nisich was sitting in front of his home with a handgun, awaiting police arrival.

"Shortly after 6 [a.m.] ... he did fire his gun in the direction of the neighborhood and in the direction of officers on scene and in the direction of our drone," Thum said. "A Sioux Falls Police Department SWAT sniper returned fire, striking Mr. Nisich. Shortly thereafter, we were able to render aid and he was declared deceased on scene."

As is standard procedure, Thum said, the scene was secured by police and turned over to the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), a state agency tasked with investigating officer-involved shootings.

In a Sunday morning press conference at the Sioux Falls Law Enforcement Center, which serves as home to both the police department and the sheriff's office, Phillips and Thum answered what questions they could, but noted many details cannot be released until the DCI completes their investigation.

Phillips said despite the initial report to law enforcement that the shooting was a robbery, he didn't have enough detail to confidently call the initial incident a robbery. He did note, however, that the incident took place at a business, but did not disclose if the shooting was business-related or drug-related. Thum added that authorities believe the three people involved are not related.

Thum also noted there's no count available as to how many shots were fired by police or Nisich, and did not answer questions on whether less-lethal tactics were used to subdue Nisich before a marksman fired the fatal bullet.

"We desire peaceful resolutions in these types of situations. That's why we roll out the SWAT team, the crisis negotiators with the SWAT team, that's why we bring in the elements that we can so we can open lines of communication and give people time," Thum concluded. "Ultimately, we respond to people's actions. It's tragic because there's a lot of loss of life in this whole situation. ... We desire people to participate in the criminal justice system, but again, we understand that that's not the reality sometimes and we have to respond to actions."

Sunday's shooting marks the sixth officer-involved shooting in the state, and the third involving the Sioux Falls Police Department, this year.

According to the website for the Office of the Attorney General, all 53 officer-involved shooting investigations in South Dakota have been deemed justified — though two May shootings in Rapid City and Sioux Falls are still under investigation.