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.

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.

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.