South Dakota

South Dakota is a state in the Midwestern Region of the United States. Admitted to the Union as the 40th state on November 2, 1889, South Dakota is an almost completely rural state, with a population of just over 750,000, ranking 46th in the United States. On May 25, 1998, the town of Sturgis near Mount Rushmore was the scene of a hostage crisis when radical militia leader Edgar Halstrom, his sons James and Isaac, and brother Karl invaded the Sturgis town bank and took eleven townspeople hostage. FBI Special Agent Art Jeffries, an undercover agent within Halstrom's group, convinced Halstrom to surrender to the gathering FBI forces surrounding the bank just after the arrival of Richmond, Virginia A-SAC John Hartley from an inspection of FBI offices in Rapid City. Just as Jeffries was trying to inform the FBI of Halstrom's surrender, Hartley ordered a SWAT team under command of Francis Blake to storm the bank, killing everyone but Jeffries and the remaining hostages, including James Halstrom, whom Jeffries had befriended. After Blake informed Jeffries of Hartley's order, Jeffries stalked outside and struck Hartley, resulting in his reassignment on return to Chicago just over a week later.