SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Cameron Steen lives in the area of 11th Street and Sneve Avenue in east Sioux Falls where police say a deadly shooting took place Thursday. The investigation, he says, came close to home.
“There was a knock on my door, and I went and checked, and it was just the police, and they were just like, ‘Hey, you mind answering some questions,'” Steen said Friday. “I was like, ‘Yeah, of course, what’s going on?’ He’s like, ‘Well, there’s just a guy downstairs with a serious bullet wound.”
Police say the man killed is 38-year-old Michael Christopher McDaniel of Sioux Falls.
“At this time, we believe that the victim was shot once in the leg with a small-caliber weapon but are waiting for the autopsy which will take place next week to confirm those results,” Sioux Falls Police Department Capt. Mike Colwill said Friday. “Based on the information that we have gathered so far, we believe that the suspect and the victim in this case are known to each other.”
At last update, there hadn’t been an arrest made, but investigators had zeroed in on a person of interest.
“This isn’t a crime that occurred between strangers,” Colwill said. “We do believe that this is an isolated incident between two people who are familiar with each other.”
Steen, however, is familiar with the crime scene.
“Once the officers are gone, I kind of peek over, and there’s blood going down every single step, and that was just crazy for me,” he said.
Steen feels the neighborhood is safe, and he’s not alone in that assessment.
“From my experience and stuff like that, I personally think it’s safe,” said Freddie Lavan, who also lives in the area.
“Everybody here is pretty great,” Steen said. “I’ve never had any problems. Everybody just minds their own business, so this is really the first time something like this has happened, and it’s pretty crazy just experiencing that.”
“I think who you have in your life and who you talk to, it, that depends on what you have to worry about in your life,” Lavan said. “Not what’s around you.”
Thursday’s homicide is the city’s 16th of 2024, which is the record dating back to at least the early 1970s.
