PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota’s attorney general said Friday a Sioux Falls officer was justified in the fatal shooting of a man police say threatened them with a knife.
Cody Wade Kelly, 41, was killed after police conducted a welfare check at his apartment on March 31 because he had threatened to harm himself.
When officers arrived Kelly told them he had tampered with the gas lines, so police evacuated the apartment building’s tenants.
Police found Kelly in a bathroom at his apartment armed with a knife and with bleeding wounds to his arms. An officer shot Kelly with a nonlethal bullet when Kelly ignored commands to drop the knife. It had no effect as he continued to hold the knife to his own neck. At this point Kelly told officers to shoot him.
Another officer then used a stun gun which caused Kelly to drop the knife.
As officers struggled to subdue him, Kelly was able to grab a knife again and began swinging at officers, stabbing one in the leg and threatening others, according to the Division of Criminal Investigation’s report.
An officer drew his gun and shot Kelly multiple times. He remained conscious but was no longer physically resisting.
Officers gave Kelly medical aid and called for an ambulance. Kelly later died at the hospital.