Family seeks answers after man killed in raid

WAGNER, S.D. – Federal officers used pepper spray and shot and killed a young man with a criminal history moments after he livestreamed himself brushing his teeth in the basement of a tribal housing unit on the Yankton Sioux Reservation.

Zander Zephier, 23, died Nov. 27 just north of this southeast South Dakota town, about 40 minutes after the U.S. Marshals Service arrived to arrest him on an outstanding warrant.

What is not clear from the live video feed and additional security footage outside his family's house is why deputy marshals used force to apprehend Zephier, especially when his wheelchair-bound, 90-year-old great-grandmother was still inside.

Federal officials haven't responded to News Watch inquiries about the timing of the operation and what circumstances led to Zephier being shot and killed. 

A retired chief inspector with the U.S. Marshals Service interviewed by News Watch raised questions about the use of pepper spray and the decision to enter the house without more attempts at negotiation, possibly involving tribal police.

"Tactically, it gives the impression of deputy marshals operating in the wild, wild West," said Jason Wojdylo, who worked for the agency for nearly 25 years and now lives in Tampa, Florida.

"If the fugitive is holed up in the house, our procedures were always to back out, set up a perimeter and contain the fugitive in the residence, not just lob munitions into the house."

The U.S. Marshals Service, an enforcement arm of the federal judiciary, is primarily responsible for locating and arresting federal suspects and carrying out fugitive operations.

Based on text messages from neighbors and interviews with family members, the law enforcement team arrived at 8:37 a.m. the day before Thanksgiving and began lobbing gas grenades into the basement at 9:11 a.m.

Shots were fired five minutes later, after at least one deputy marshal entered the house. At 9:46 a.m., Zephier was pronounced dead at Wagner Community Memorial Hospital.

Zephier's great-grandmother was on the main floor of the residence when the gas grenades were tossed into the basement.

The sound of canisters crashing into the basement through windows is heard on a livestreamed video that Zephier made of himself that morning.

Much of the law enforcement activity and conversation outside the house was also captured on motion-activated security footage that was obtained and analyzed by News Watch, shaping a basic timeline of events.

In the livestreamed video, Zephier brushes his teeth as officers call for him to give himself up. The sound of breaking glass is heard, after which Zephier says "Oh s—!" and eventually begins coughing and holding a rag to his nose and mouth.

"Come out with your hands up, Zander!" an officer calls out in the video. "We have all day. I have 10 more of these (gas grenades)."

'Good guys or bad guys?'

Minutes later, at least one deputy marshal enters the front door with a protective shield, gas mask and gun. The remaining officers complain about how long it's taking the family to get Zephier's great-grandmother, Conceta Zephier, out of the house.

Then one of the deputy marshals in the driveway says, "Shots fired!" to a fellow officer. The other officer replies, "Good guys or bad guys?"

"We've got to get him out of there," an officer says later.

Video footage shows Zephier being wheeled down the driveway on a gurney, shirtless and in jeans with bandages on his chest.

He was pronounced dead at the hospital by Charles Mix County coroner Chad Peters, who told News Watch that he transported the body to Sioux Falls for an autopsy to be performed by forensic pathologist and Minnehaha County medical examiner Kenneth Snell.

Zane Zephier, a University of South Dakota employee and Zander's older brother, said his family wants to see the autopsy report to determine how many times Zander was shot and the location of the bullet wounds.

"We will not be silenced, and we will not back down," said Zane Zephier.

In interviews with News Watch, the family also accused deputy marshals of turning off their body cameras when discussing the operation, based on the home security footage. They want to see body cam footage from inside the house to see if Zephier was armed or threatening the officers at the time he was shot.

An FBI agent left behind a list of items seized from the home, including a knife, 9 mm shell casings, a bullet, spent gas grenades and clothing.

Wojdylo said that the presence of an FBI agent at the scene after an operation typically means an officer-involved shooting, as opposed to self-inflicted wounds.

Officers discussed body cams

The Zephier family does not dispute Zander's lengthy criminal record and fugitive status.

At the time of his death, he was considered an escaped inmate from Charles Mix County Jail in Lake Andes because he was granted furlough in July to attend a family funeral and never returned.

Zander was also on the federal sex offender registry after pleading guilty in 2023 to abusive sexual contact with a minor, for which he was sentenced to 21 months in prison.

Despite his checkered past, family members are calling for an independent investigation into the 23-year-old's death. They said they don’t trust law enforcement to conduct an impartial inquiry, especially when it comes to operations on tribal land.

The security camera footage reviewed by News Watch shows the following:

• A deputy marshal approaches the front door of the house, hears something over his radio and then appears to say, “Shoot him.” Faint shots can be heard from the house in the video.
• A deputy marshal emerges from the house and says “Little spicy down there!” to another officer in the driveway, referring to pepper spray. “Who was involved?” the other officer asks, to which the deputy marshal responds, “Me.” “Are you all good?” he is asked. “Yeah, I’m good,” he replies.
• Moments later, the deputy marshal involved in the shooting says, “Are you still live?” to another officer in the driveway. He then points to the man's body camera and repeats the question.
• After Zander Zephier is wheeled down the driveway by medical personnel, a deputy marshal calls for his fellow officers to huddle up by saying “USM,” for U.S. Marshals. Before conversing, the officers discuss who still has their body cams active. “I’m on,” says one.

News Watch has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the Marshals Service through the Department of Justice to obtain body cam footage from the operation, noting that officers spoke of their cameras being active.

A response from the agency's general counsel in Washington indicated that "due to a substantial backlog of (FOIA) requests, it is estimated the processing of your request may be significantly delayed."

U.S. Attorney Alison Ramsdell, the chief federal law enforcement officer in South Dakota, did not respond to an interview request for this story.

Zephier sought for state, federal crimes

Zander Zephier's federal 2023 conviction for abusive sexual contact with a minor stemmed from a crime two years earlier involving a 14-year-old girl when Zephier was 20.

In January, he was granted a reduced sentence based on new sentencing guidelines and was released in February for time served. His sentence included supervised release for five years, which meant registering as a sex offender, checking in regularly with his probation officer, avoiding drugs and firearms and other provisions.

Zephier’s sex offender status was listed as non-compliant dating back to Aug. 20, according to court documents, and his residence was listed as “unlocatable.”

That alone could have triggered the involvement of marshals as part of the National Sex Offender Targeting Center, which supports law enforcement in identifying, locating and apprehending noncompliant sex offenders.

Wojdylo, the former chief inspector, said the operation could have been sparked by a combination of Zephier's federal probation and a bench warrant stemming from his furlough violation and failure to appear for an arraignment in Charles Mix County for simple assault against a police officer.

Court documents show that Zephier was arrested June 29 after police were called for a report of a female being pulled by the hair and assaulted in Lake Andes at 4 a.m.

When a sheriff's deputy arrived, Zephier attempted to run away but later returned and entered a vehicle. The deputy pulled his Taser and got Zephier out of the vehicle, but Zephier head-butted the officer after being handcuffed.

He ended up pleading guilty to misdemeanor simple assault on July 12 and was held in jail.

'Unfortunate and tragic incident'

Zephier's lawyer requested that he be allowed a one-day furlough July 15 to attend the funeral of his uncle, Charles World Turner, noting that Zephier's family would "pick him up and drop him off at the jail."

He never returned, triggering a charge of second-degree escape.

Zephier's absence at his Aug. 16 arraignment for the simple assault charge led Circuit Court Judge Bruce Anderson to issue a bench warrant directing law enforcement to arrest Zephier "at any time of the day or night, weekends or holidays, and bring the Defendant before this Court."

It's common for the U.S. Marshals Service to collaborate with local law enforcement to launch fugitive task force operations.

Charles Mix County Sheriff Randy Thaler did not respond to an interview request regarding his office's involvement.

Wagner Police Chief Damon Griffith said his office was not involved in the operation but "assisted after the incident occurred" by having an officer follow the ambulance to the hospital and stay there until Zephier's body was released to the coroner.

Griffith said his office has been busy with phone calls from media and concerned citizens because of inaccurate "active shooter" social media reports that indicated the Wagner Police Department was involved.

“This occurred within tribal jurisdiction," Griffith said of Zephier’s death, adding that it was "an unfortunate and tragic incident that shouldn’t have happened."

'Puddle of blood' in basement

On Dec. 11, two weeks after the death of her grandson in the tribal neighborhood outside Wagner known as North Housing, Jennifer Zephier sat in the front room of the Pine Avenue house in which he was killed.

There were tables set up outside the ranch-style house for a candlelight vigil that night to celebrate Zander's life and call for justice among the Dakota people of the Yankton Sioux Tribe, known internally as the Ihanktonwan Nation.

Jennifer was surrounded by sewing materials and framed portraits of Zander, which were displayed at his funeral at the National Guard Armory in Wagner on Dec. 4 amid a chaotic series of events following his death.

The family was relocated to the tribal-owned Fort Randall Casino in Lake Andes following the shooting so law enforcement could secure the scene, followed by cleanup and repairs by the family and Yankton Sioux Housing Authority.

"There was a puddle of blood below the basement steps," said Jennifer Zephier, pointing to stairs on the east side of the house. "Basement windows were broken. They kept us up there for a week."

It's not clear whether the marshals used cellphone "pings" or other information to confirm that Zander was in the house the morning of Nov. 27. But they arrived with a sense of purpose, she said.

"They had a job to do, and they were here to do it," Jennifer said. "They had an attitude since they first walked in the door."

The officers quickly got her and other family members outside. But her 90-year-old mother was still in a back room in her wheelchair when Jennifer said she heard one of the deputy marshals on the front porch mention Zander in the basement.

"Gas that f--—!" he told his fellow officers, according to Jennifer, who still can't comprehend why the standoff couldn't have been settled without bloodshed.

"Why shoot him?" she asked. "Why can't you tase him, you know, or find some other way of getting him to where you can handcuff him and take him to jail?"

Brother overcomes odds on reservation

Zane Zephier, who lives just south of Sioux Falls in Harrisburg, returned to his tribal home in Wagner for the Dec. 11 candlelight vigil. He greeted his grandmother and then paused in the front room to observe a portrait of him and Zander as children.

In the photo, Zane is holding the younger Zander in his arms with a combination of fondness and concerted effort, as if his brother could slip away at any moment.

The boys faced challenges that are common for children raised in Native American reservation communities, which have poverty, suicide and incarceration rates much higher than the national average.

Their mother left when the boys were young. Their father, Alexander Zane Zephier II, is currently incarcerated in Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield.

Zane Zephier, 29, has overcome the odds.

He graduated in 2013 from Wagner High School and participated in the Upward Bound program, which supports high school students from families in which neither parent holds a bachelor's degree and prepares them for college.

Zane graduated from the University of South Dakota in 2017 with degrees in criminal justice and political science. He currently works for Upward Bound, hoping to use his life experience to brighten the futures of low-income and first-generation students.

Among his regrets was the inability to keep a firm grasp on his younger brother, Zander, who loved art and music and hanging out with nieces and nephews but pursued a path that his family feared would lead to a violent end.

"I saw my brother's death in dreams and nightmares throughout my life," said Zane.

"He had a good heart. He just got caught up with a group of people and got into crime and drinking. But anyone who knew him will tell you about his smile and how kind he could be. You can tell by the amount of support we've gotten from everywhere that he's been in his life. People are feeling the loss.”

'Human beings deserve dignity'

As darkness arrived in North Housing and the Dec. 11 vigil began, framed photos and mementos of Zander were illuminated by candles, flickering in the frigid air.

“Justice for Zander” was printed on posters that bordered the tables where soup and fry bread were later served in front of the house. A fire blazed in a steel container for warmth.

When a reporter asked Zane Zephier if there was a timetable of events for the vigil, he allowed himself a grin and said, “Come on. You know how we roll around here.”

It didn’t take long, though, for Robin Bair of Wagner, a longtime advocate of tribal rights, to break into a calling song in honor of Zander, with several members of the tribe joining in.

“We are a sovereign nation!” Bair said loudly, breaking the silence following the song. “They can't just come in and enter our homes and kill our people. We always let it go because that’s our character. We’re humane people. So we accept it, and every time we accept it, they come onto our land and enter our homes and kill our people!”

Later in the vigil, it was Zane’s turn to speak. It was hard to hear him at first because his voice and presence were not as boisterous as Bair's. But his words gained strength as he spoke of his brother and the lack of accountability so far from federal law enforcement in the aftermath of Zander's death.

“He deserved better than what happened to him here,” said Zane. “Our people deserve better, and I want you all to know I'm not leaving any stone unturned. We're going to find the truth, and we're looking at every option until we find it. They will come to know that we as a people stand up for our families. And they will know that we will fight against injustice when it shows itself in our home. Human beings deserve dignity in life and in death. They gave my brother none."

This story was produced by South Dakota News Watch, an independent, nonprofit news organization. Read more in-depth stories at sdnewswatch.org and sign up for an email every few days to get stories as soon as they're published. Contact investigative reporter Stu Whitney at stu.whitney@sdnewswatch.org.