South Dakota
Family seeks justice after man killed in raid near Wagner, South Dakota
WAGNER, S.D. — Federal officers used pepper spray and shot and killed a young man with a criminal history moments after he livestreamed himself brushing his teeth in the basement of a tribal housing unit on the Yankton Sioux Reservation.
Zander Zephier, 23, died Nov. 27 just north of this southeast South Dakota town, about 40 minutes after the U.S. Marshals Service arrived to arrest him on outstanding warrants.
What is not clear from the live video feed and additional security footage outside the house is why marshals used force to apprehend Zephier, especially when his wheelchair-bound, 90-year-old great-grandmother was still in the house.
Federal officials haven’t responded to inquiries about the timing of the operation and what circumstances led to Zephier being shot and killed.
A retired chief inspector with the U.S. Marshals Service raised questions about the use of pepper spray and the decision to enter the house without more attempts at negotiation, possibly involving tribal police.
“Tactically, it gives the impression of deputy marshals operating in the wild, wild West,” said Jason Wojdylo, who worked for the Marshals Service for nearly 25 years and now lives in Tampa, Florida.
“If the fugitive is holed up in the house, our procedures were always to back out, set up a perimeter and contain the fugitive in the residence, not just lob munitions into the house.”
The U.S. Marshals Service, an enforcement arm of the federal judiciary, is primarily responsible for locating and arresting federal suspects and carrying out fugitive operations.
Based on text messages from neighbors and interviews with family members, the law enforcement team arrived at the residence at 8:37 a.m. the day before Thanksgiving and began lobbing gas grenades into the basement at 9:11 a.m.
Shots were fired five minutes later, after at least one deputy marshal entered the house. At 9:46 a.m., Zephier was pronounced dead at Community Memorial Hospital in Wagner.
Zephier’s great-grandmother was on the main floor of the residence when the OC (oleoresin capsicum) gas grenades were tossed into the basement to render “an intense respiratory effect to an non-compliant subject,” according to product materials.
The sound of canisters crashing into the basement through windows is heard on a livestreamed video that Zephier made of himself that morning.
Much of the law enforcement activity and conversation outside the house was also captured on motion-activated security footage that was obtained and analyzed, shaping a basic timeline of events.
(Stu Whitney / South Dakota News Watch)
In the livestreamed video, Zephier brushes his teeth as officers outside call for him to give himself up. The sound of breaking glass is heard, after which Zephier says “Oh s—!” and eventually begins coughing and holding a rag to his nose and mouth.
“Come out with your hands up, Zander!” an officer calls out in the video. “We have all day. I have 10 more of these (gas grenades).”
Minutes later, at least one deputy marshal enters the front door with a protective shield, gas mask and firearm. The remaining officers complain about how long it’s taking the family to get Zephier’s great-grandmother, Conceta, out of the house.
Then one of the deputy marshals in the driveway says, “Shots fired!” to a fellow officer. The other officer replies, “Good guys or bad guys?”
“We’ve got to get him out of there,” an officer says later.
Video footage shows Zephier being wheeled down the driveway on a gurney, shirtless and in jeans with bandages on his chest.
He was pronounced dead at the hospital by Charles Mix County coroner Chad Peters, who told said he transported the body to Sioux Falls for an autopsy to be performed by forensic pathologist and Minnehaha County medical examiner Kenneth Snell.
Zane Zephier, a University of South Dakota employee and Zander’s older brother, said his family wants to see the autopsy report to determine how many times Zander was shot and the location of the bullet wounds.
Officers discussed body cams
The Zephier family does not dispute Zander’s lengthy criminal record and fugitive status.
At the time of his death, he was considered an escaped prisoner from Charles Mix County Jail in Lake Andes because he was granted furlough in July to attend a family funeral and never returned.
Zander was also on the federal sex offender registry after pleading guilty in 2023 to abusive sexual contact with a minor, for which he was sentenced to 21 months in prison.
Despite his checkered past, family members are calling for an independent investigation into the 23-year-old’s death. They said they don’t trust law enforcement to conduct an impartial inquiry, especially when it comes to operations on tribal land.
(Stu Whitney / South Dakota News Watch)
The security camera footage reviewed by News Watch shows the following:
- A deputy marshal approaches the front door of the house, hears something over his radio and then appears to say, “Shoot him.” Faint shots can be heard from the house in the video.
- A deputy marshal emerges from the house and says “Little spicy down there!” to another officer in the driveway, likely referring to pepper spray. “Who was involved?” the other officer asks, to which the deputy marshal responds, “Me.” “Are you all good?” he is asked. “Yeah, I’m good,” he says.
- Moments later, the deputy marshal involved in the shooting says, “Are you still live?” to another officer in the driveway. He then points to the man’s body camera and repeats the question.
News Watch has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the Marshals Service through the Department of Justice to obtain body cam footage from the operation.
U.S. Attorney Alison Ramsdell, the chief federal law enforcement officer in South Dakota, did not respond to an interview request for this story.
— This story first appeared on southdakotanewswatch.org.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Nine school districts have been selected as recipients of the 2026 Perkins Reserve Grant by the South Dakota Department of Education.
The grant provides major equipment upgrades for Career and Technical Education programs, helping to equip students with the skills and experiences needed for post-secondary education and the workforce.
“CTE programs are constantly evolving to match the pace of workforce needs,” said Secretary of Education Dr. Joseph Graves.
“The South Dakota Perkins Reserve Grant aids schools in equipping students with current technologies, resources, and tools, offering students a realistic, hands-on learning experience that will strengthen their marketability to colleges or employers once they leave the K-12 education system.”
The following school districts have been named as the 2026 recipients:
- Aberdeen School District:
- Awarded $30,233 for new precision machine equipment for the manufacturing program.
- De Smet School District:
- Awarded $15,898 for modernizing metal fabrication within agriculture programs.
- Lake Preston School District:
- Awarded $43,160 for expansion of program offers in multiple career clusters to strengthen industrial alignment.
- McLaughlin School District:
- Awarded $11,997 to purchase equipment to offer a new culinary arts program.
- Menno School District:
- Awarded $32,844 to purchase small engines and attend professional development opportunities to enhance the agricultural mechanics program.
- Mitchell School District:
- Awarded $38,663 for the modernization of the automotive technology lab.
- Timber Lake School District:
- Awarded $42,400 for the expansion of agriculture course offerings to strengthen industry alignment.
- Wakpala School District:
- Awarded $40,145 to purchase a skid steer simulator to enhance the agriculture and construction program.
- Wolsey-Wessington School District:
- Awarded $26,201 to purchase industry-aligned equipment to enhance the agriculture and construction program.
You can learn more about the South Dakota Perkins Reserve Grant at doe.sd.gov.
Copyright 2026 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at March 4, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from March 4 drawing
07-14-42-47-56, Powerball: 06, Power Play: 4
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from March 4 drawing
33-38-39-47-51, Star Ball: 07, ASB: 02
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Dakota Cash numbers from March 4 drawing
02-18-22-30-32
Check Dakota Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from March 4 drawing
12-13-36-39-58, Bonus: 03
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize
- Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
- Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
- Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.
When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
- Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 10:15 p.m. CT daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.
PIERRE — A bill from South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley to criminalize the creation or sharing of deepfakes was amended this week to more clearly define what constitutes nudity before it reaches Gov. Larry Rhoden’s desk.
The amendment, added on the floor of the House of Representatives, came in response to concerns about unintended consequences.
Senate Bill 41 creates a class of felony crime for the creation or distribution of images digitally altered to depict a person in a state of nudity or involved in a sexually explicit act, commonly referred to as deepfakes.
In testimony in the House Judiciary Committee on Monday in Pierre, Jackley pointed to the case of Mark Rathbun, a former Division of Motor Vehicles employee who is accused of taking images of women and girls from state databases and creating sexual images.“This is real, and it’s something that we unfortunately are seeing happen in our state,” Jackley said.
The judiciary committee voted 8-3 to send the bill to the House floor but not before a discussion on its potential to criminalize political memes.
The bill’s definition of nudity originally encompassed a partial state of nudity. Fort Pierre Republican Rep. Will Mortenson asked Jackley if that would include a fabricated topless photo. Jackley said yes. Then Mortenson asked if a fabricated image of Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker without a shirt, if shared by President Donald Trump on social media, would put the president in line for felony charges.
Jackley said a Pritzker image wouldn’t qualify because Pritzker is male, but Mortenson pushed back.
He noted that partially nude fabrications would be a felony if done with the intent to “self-gratify or alarm, annoy, embarrass, harass, invade the privacy of, threaten, or cause emotional, financial, physical, psychological, or reputational harm to that individual.”
Nothing in the bill specified that a person in a digitally fabricated topless image must be female.
“We just said that half-nude is a state of nudity, and so now he’s shirtless, and the point of this is to embarrass this guy,” Mortenson said of his topless Pritzker meme scenario.
Mortenson voted against the bill in committee but brought an amendment Tuesday to define nudity as inclusive of male or female genitalia, buttocks or the female nipple.
The amendment passed, but it did not address every concern about the bill.
Democratic Rep. Kadyn Wittman of Sioux Falls asked Jackley during the bill’s committee hearing why he didn’t use it to enhance penalties for people who film others in states of undress or participating in sexual activity against their will.
That behavior is a felony if it involves the recording of a minor, or if it happens repeatedly. The new penalties for deepfakes would be added to the same chapter of South Dakota law.
“Why is the first time hidden recording a misdemeanor generally, but a digitally fabricated image would automatically be a classified felony,” said Wittman.
Jackley said he feels that the creation of digitally manipulated sexual images, even if they aren’t shared, signals “significant criminal intent.” He told South Dakota Searchlight after the committee meeting that he’s open to addressing that issue, but that SB 41’s primary purpose was to target deepfakes.
On the House floor, Wittman was one of two representatives to say the bill’s felony penalties could be unnecessarily harsh in instances where young people make “a stupid decision” and create a deepfake.
“I feel like, in a lot of situations, this bill covers behavior that could be covered by a lower level of offense,” Wittman said.
Supporters countered that the creation of fake nudes can do real psychological damage to real people, and that the state needs to clearly signal that doing so is a serious crime.
“It’s only fun and games until it happens to you,” said Rep. Mary Fitzgerald, R-St. Onge.
The bill passed the House 60-6. It now moves to the state Senate, which passed the bill 32-0 on Jan. 16. The Senate would need to approve the amended version of the bill before it could be delivered to Gov. Larry Rhoden to sign or veto.
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