Isaac Halstrom

"Daddy... Shut up, Isaac."

- Isaac and his father Edgar Halstrom as Art Jeffries confronts Edgar, May 26, 1998.

Isaac Halstrom was the oldest son of Edgar and Amy Halstrom and older brother of James Halstrom. A member of his father's anti-government militia in South Dakota since 1996, Isaac had taken part in multiple successful 'raids' against government and state property by the time his younger brother James joined, five months after undercover FBI Special Agent Art Jeffries under the alias of 'Peter Kane' had. On May 26, 1998, Isaac, his brother, Jeffries, Edgar, and Edgar's brother Karl stormed the town bank of Sturgis, taking eleven townspeople inside hostage. Within hours, a massive cordon of the bank had been set up by the FBI with aid from the local sheriff, sealing the group in tight, but succeeding in releasing three of the hostages after significant pressure had been placed on Edgar. After James confronted their father about leaving, even Isaac's stance on the operation began to falter as well. Not a minute later, as Jeffries prepared to notify the FBI outside of Edgar's decision to relent and surrender, the SWAT team led by Francis Blake stormed the bank, first killing Karl and Edgar. Isaac watched in terror as his father's body crumpled to the floor and leaped up to try and save him, but was hit by fire from the SWAT team, killing him as well. Isaac's brother James died in much the same fashion not a minute later in Jeffries' arms after being hit by fire from a perhaps overeager SWAT agent.