SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead gives a riveting behind the scenes account of the Lake County manhunt this week for the guy who had shot and wounded a deputy.
Milstead tells KELO Radio's Greg Belfrage Show that he was in bed when he got the first call of what was breaking very early Wednesday morning.
"I could hear my deputies siren going and he was telling me 'look I'm on my way, we've got a deputy shot'. Of course, you're heart just sinks. You're trying to wipe the sleep out of your eyes. It's like, tell more more and it's like, not our deputy, its a neighboring deputy, but you're still...kiss your wife goodbye and head north.." recalls Milstead.
Milstead posted some of his deputies at rural checkpoints to help Lake County authorities, searching for the gunman still on the loose. It was a very tense time.
"We have officers stationed in a perimeter out in the country in the dark of night with a lone gunman - we know he was armed - and no idea, you can't see if he's walking up to your car, if he's going to shoot another officer."
The suspect was eventually located, holed up in a ditch, and after a long standoff, surrendered. Milstead was in the command center when the word came through.
"When that word came across that he was in custody, the group broke out into applause and shouts of joy, cause thats what we wanted to do. We wanted this guy apprehended without hurting himself, or hurting any more officers."
McCook County Sheriff's Deputy Dylan Hillestad was shot in the arm. He's going to be just fine.
The suspected gunman, 37-year-old Matthew James Rumbolz of Montrose, is now behind bars.
Multiple agencies were involved in the manhunt and standoff. Here's just a few: the Sioux Falls Police Department, Codington County SWAT team, Lincoln, McCook, Minnehaha, and Lake County Emergency Management, the FBI, the DCI, the South Dakota Highway Patrol, and Homeland Security Investigations.