South Dakota
Rapid City Police investigating two new gunfire incidents
RAPID CITY, S.D. — For the second time in less than a week, Rapid City Police detectives are investigating confirmed incidents of gunfire in the city with confirmed property damage, but no injuries. The two most recent incidents both happened during the predawn hours of New Year’s Day. Detectives are asking for help from residents in the area.
The first incident happened shortly before 2:00 a.m. Patrol officers in the 300 block of Curtis Street heard gunshots and tracked them to the area of Haines Avenue and Van Buren Street. They spoke to a witness who said two male subjects began firing a pistol before continuing on foot down Van Buren Street. Investigators found several shell casings in the area, as well as damage to the tire of a vehicle parked along the street.
The second incident happened about an hour and a half later near the same intersection. The person who called in the report told officers that they had been driving on Haines Avenue when they saw two males crossing the road. The witness said the two then turned, fired several shots at the vehicle, and ran eastbound on Van Buren Street. Officers noted several bullet holes in the vehicle. the witness described the two assailants as short, juvenile Native American males. One was described as wearing a black sweater and dark pants. The other was wearing a gray sweater.
Fortunately, no one was injured in either incident.
Detectives are investigating both incidents, identifying and interviewing witnesses and working to find video from the area. They ask that homeowners with security or door bell cameras review their video for any suspicious activities involving two youth matching the witness description. Because of the proximity in both time and location, detectives are also trying to determine if the two incidents are related.
The New Year’s Eve night incidents follow a
similar random gunfire incident
Friday night. RCPD Chief Don Hedrick
announced late Tuesday evening
that three suspects — two male adults and one male juvenile — had been taken into custody in that incident.
Rapid City Police say they are giving the two newest incidents their highest priority and are using “every appropriate investigative resource.”
Anyone with video or any other information about either incident is asked to contact police at (605) 394-4131, or send an anonymous tip by texting the letters “RCPD” and the information to 847411.
Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.
South Dakota
Rounds, Office of the Inspector General requesting first-hand accounts of poor mail service in South Dakota
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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – A squishy stress toy that’s been sitting on store shelves for years is suddenly becoming one of the hottest items in South Dakota, thanks to the power of social media.
NeeDoh, a line of sensory squeeze toys made by Schylling, has exploded in popularity on TikTok, where videos of people squeezing, stretching, and collecting the colorful toys have racked up millions of views. The viral attention is now translating into real-world demand, with retailers across the country struggling to keep them in stock.
At Child’s Play Toys in Sioux Falls, owner Nancy Savage recently announced a new shipment during a Facebook Live video.
Within hours, both Sioux Falls locations had sold out.
“So I’ve been in business, this November will be 17 years, and I have never seen anything like this,” Savage said. “It is the craziest thing.”
The frenzy isn’t limited to Sioux Falls.
At Black Hills Rally & Gold in Sturgis, manager Madison Bestgen said the store ordered what they believed would be enough inventory to last through the summer.
Instead, the shipment disappeared in less than two days.
“We made an order that we thought was going to get us all the way to the end of summer, and then when we got it in at the end of February, it lasted like a day and a half,” Bestgen said. “At that moment, we were like, ‘Oh yeah, this has blown up. This is something bigger than we thought.’”
The toys themselves aren’t new.
Both stores have carried NeeDoh products for nearly a decade and have built a steady customer base among children and adults alike.
But that changed once the product gained traction online.
“We had them out for people to play with, we’ve shown them to people, people with arthritis, we’ve sold them to so many adults, but all of a sudden, it went viral,” Savage said.
The surge in popularity has become a textbook example of what retailers call the “TikTok Effect,” where a single viral trend can transform an ordinary product into a sensation.
“It can change anything overnight into something absolutely wild,” Bestgen said.
The demand has been so intense that customers are traveling significant distances in search of the toys.
“We have people coming from everywhere,” Bestgen said. “We have people from Rapid City, Spearfish, Gillette, even, that are driving just because they want these NeeDohs.”
Savage has seen similar enthusiasm in Sioux Falls, especially when she goes live on Facebook to tell everyone.
“This is kind of a funny one, but at one of the salons downtown, somebody was getting their nails done, and the light popped up, and both the nail tech and the person getting their nails done ran down to pick up NeeDoh,” she said with a laugh.
NeeDoh’s popularity has also sparked a treasure-hunt mentality among collectors as stores wait for new shipments to arrive.
Savage believes that’s creating something positive beyond the sales numbers.
“It’s a fun, fairly inexpensive summer activity for people to go on a NeeDoh hunt and go around town looking for NeeDoh,” she said. “I think that is building community.”
Whether it’s the stress relief, the satisfying squish, or simply the influence of social media, retailers say the craze shows no signs of slowing down.
More information on Black Hills Rally & Gold Inc. can be found here.
More information on Child’s Play Toys can be found here, and the upcoming drop on Savage’s Facebook live can be found here.
Copyright 2026 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
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