Police say officer shot suspect who held clerk hostage

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Authorities say a police officer shot and killed a man in Rapid City after he took a gas station clerk in hostage with a knife.

Rapid City Chief of Police Don Hedrick said that the suspect entered the gas station Friday and held a knife to the clerk’s throat, fending off a bystander’s efforts to intervene. The suspect then brought the clerk outside with the knife still held near her. In a release sent Friday evening, the Attorney General’s Office says the suspect refused commands to surrender before he was shot. He died later at a hospital.

The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation will determine if the shooting was justified.

February 6, 2023