Downtown standoff ends peacefully

Argus Leader

A sniper on top of a parking garage waits at the ready during the standoff. Sioux Falls law enforcement including a SWAT team surrounded the public library in downtown on Monday Sept. 25, 2017 when responding to a parolee who was possibly armed. The standoff ended peacefully and the parolee was taken into custody.

Police say they've taken a suspect into custody after a lengthy standoff at the downtown library.

It was just before 4:30 p.m. when police arrested 43-year-old Jeremy Hoeft, said Sam Clemens, spokesman for the Sioux Falls Police Department.

At about 1:15 p.m., Clemens said police got a call from South Dakota Parole Services, asking them to be on the lookout for Hoeft, a parole absconder from Rapid City.

When they found him, it was in the parking lot of the downtown library, sitting in a car on the north side of the building.

After Hoeft told officers he had a weapon, Sioux Falls police were joined by the SWAT team and police negotiators who spent just over three hours speaking with Hoeft.

The entire block from 6th to 8th and Main to Dakota was closed to traffic as dozens of police cars and SWAT vehicles filled the streets, backed by at least one sniper on the parking ramp of the nearby Holiday Inn.

Hoeft was peacefully taken into custody just before 4:30 p.m.

Clemens said it wasn't clear if Hoeft had any weapons, although the SWAT team was searching his car to determine that.

Hoeft had also mentioned a bomb, Clemens said, a threat police are taking seriously. As of 5:30 p.m., the area around the downtown library was still closed off, but Clemens said the public was not in any danger.

Also involved in the incident was the person who was driving the car Hoeft was found in — although Clemens said he did not believe the driver knew Hoeft was wanted by police.