Edgar Halstrom

"Edgar still the man?! Edgar's the man!"

- John Hartley & Francis Blake discussing the Sturgis hostage situation. May 26, 1998.

Edgar Halstrom was the father of Isaac and James Halstrom, husband of Amy Halstrom, older brother of Karl Halstrom, and radical leader of an anti-government militia group in South Dakota. Halstrom and his milita, (of which Isaac and James were part), stormed the town bank of Sturgis, South Dakota on May 26, 1998, taking eleven townspeople hostage. Hours later, a multi-block radius around the bank had been sealed by the FBI and local sheriff, while John Hartley - A-SAC of the FBI's Richmond, Virgina field office - arrived from an inspection of the FBI offices in Rapid City to take command of the FBI operational forces in Sturgis. Undercover FBI Special Agent Art Jeffries who was also a member of Halstrom's group under the alias of Peter Kane, had been tasked with infiltrating and breaking-up the group in November 1997 by his boss, Chicago SAC Joe Lomax. Through James, Jeffries was able to convince Halstrom to surrender to the FBI, in order to "...still walk out of this alive." Seconds before Jeffries was able to respond to Agent Charles Blackwell's requests to answer the bank phone, and "walk out" Halstrom and the group, Hartley ordered a SWAT team under the command of Francis Blake to storm the building, killing all but Jeffries and the last eight hostages in the process, including Halstrom, Isaac, James, and Halstrom's brother Karl.