Jackley releases review on Star Village officer involved shooting

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announces a Division of Criminal Investigation review indicates a Rapid City Police officer was justified in the shooting death of a man who pointed a gun at the office during an incident on May 30, 2023.

Two men were involved in the officer shooting, the incident began when police were called and asked to remove two male family members from a home on East Signal Drive. RCPD Chief Don Hedrick said when officers arrived, Kyle Whiting ran from the home. As police were chasing him, he reportedly ignored commands to stop during a foot chase before pointing a novelty gun lighter, which appeared to be a real gun, at an officer. That’s when the officer, after ordering Whiting to drop the gun, shot him.

“Evidence collected at the scene, witness statements, and a review of the video from the body-worn cameras of the two officers on scene indicate that the suspect did not comply with the officer’s verbal commands to stop,” said Attorney General Jackley. “Only when the suspect pointed what appeared to be a gun at the officer, did the officer fire the officer’s weapon.”

A bystander in the home also suffered a gunshot wound. Both injured individuals were taken by ambulance to Rapid City Monument Hospital. Whiting was later pronounced dead at the hospital. The bystander sustained serious non-life threatening injuries and was later released.

Toxicology tests indicated the positive presence of methamphetamine, amphetamine, and ketamine in Whiting’s system. A drug screen and blood alcohol test on the police officer tested negative.

Video and audio recordings, interviews of officers and witnesses, and examination of evidence by the South Dakota Forensic Laboratory corroborated the findings of DCI investigators and the officer’s account that they faced a clear, life-threatening danger.

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