Police: Pierre Victim Shot In Chest

by Breanna Fuss, Reporter
December 19, 2012 5:46 PM


A 16-year-old boy is dead and another is in jail after a shooting in Pierre.

According to police, the victim, Dalton Williams, was a sophomore at T.F. Riggs High School in Pierre. He and the suspect were classmates.

At 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Pierre police officers were called to a house on the 400 block of Buchanan Avenue. When they arrived, officers say they found three boys at the home.

"The boys were together that evening and return to the residence,” said Bob Grandpre, chief of the Pierre Police Department.

Police say they learned during questioning that all three involved were close friends. But Tuesday evening, that friendship ended in an instant.

"The suspect, it was his home, after they got inside someone they got a hold of a gun and it discharged,” explained Grandpre.

When police arrived, they say Williams was still alive, with a gunshot wound to his chest.

"And we went into life saving measures with the third person there,” said Grandpre.

Williams was taken to St. Mary's Hospital, were he later died from his injuries.

Police let the boy who called 911 go and say they consider him a witness to the crime. The other boy is now in police custody.

"We have charged him with murder of the first degree,” explained Grandpre. “And he is being held right now at the Hughes County Shelter Facility.

Police are trying to determine who the gun belonged to and how the suspect found it. The state Division of Criminal Investigation is assisting with the investigation.

Pierre school officials and representatives from the mental health community have made themselves available to help students who may have known the victim.