'It's scary now': Residents say northwest Sioux Falls neighborhood unsafe after Wednesday homicide

Officials with the Sioux Falls Police Department have confirmed that a Wednesday night shooting resulted in what is now being investigated as the city's seventh homicide of 2024.

Tanisha Bruguier, 27, died from a gunshot wound to the torso in the incident. Lifesaving measures were unsuccessful, and Bruguier was reported dead at the scene.

Police spokesman Sam Clemens said officers were called at about 11 p.m. to a trailer home in the 6000 block of West Tanager Place for reports of gunshots.

When they arrived, they found a home that had been struck by multiple bullets — the same house, Clemens said, that was shot about 16 times in an incident on Aug. 31. He said investigators believe the house was targeted on both Saturday and Wednesday nights, but it's unclear why it was targeted or who was targeted.

More: Sioux Falls has seen 6 homicides in 2024. Where do those cases stand now?

When officers were called to Tanager Place, 44-year-old Michael Spath II answered the door, and was uninjured, Clemens said. But Bruguier was found dying in a back bedroom facing north toward Fifth Street.

Clemens confirmed that Spath II was then arrested at about midnight Wednesday night at the house where Bruguier was found shot. He was charged with two counts of possession of a firearm by a former violent offender and also for maintaining a place where drugs are kept, sold or used, Minnehaha County court documents state. He was also arrested for possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia, but the state declined to file those charges.

It's unclear whether the victim was a resident of the home or a visitor, but court records list that Spath II lived in the same home where the homicide occurred. A county property tax search shows Spath did not own the home.

Spath II is being held in the Minnehaha County Jail on a $30,000 bond and will have a preliminary hearing Sept. 19.

Neighbors 'paranoid'

Garbage day was Friday on Tanager Place. All the cans were lined along the neighborhood awaiting pick-up, lawns were freshly cut, gardens were full, and bikes were in the driveways while shoes sat on the doorsteps.

Students playing recess at Hayward Elementary School one block south could be heard outside.

After a fatal shooting in the neighborhood on Wednesday night, the atmosphere was an attempted return to normal on a sunny day.

“I’m not in fear, but I am concerned,” said Troy Potts, whose home is on the same street the fatality took place.

He has lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years and said he has otherwise felt safe biking and walking the area on nice days.

Potts said he heard gunshots Wednesday night but not the Saturday before. A few other neighbors also said they never heard gunshots Saturday, just the ones on Wednesday night, when Bruguier was shot.

“So, did they catch him?” Potts asked about the suspect(s) who shot at the home.

Clemens said no arrests in connection with Saturday's or Wednesday's incidents have been made, and police are still asking the public for any information they may have.

A few houses down from Potts, resident Maynor Reyes Uricar said he was asleep in his home with his wife and two young children when he heard gunshots Wednesday night.

“It’s scary now, with my kids in the home,” he said.

Another neighbor, who is also a parent and asked not to be identified for the fear of becoming a target in a potentially already targeted situation in her neighborhood, said they also were in bed when they heard gunshots Wednesday night. Their bedroom faced north toward Fifth Street, just like the side of the house that was shot at multiple times.

“At first I stayed silent when I heard the gunshot,” the neighbor said. “I had my baby with me, and I was home alone. Then, I got a spooky feeling, so I called the non-emergency line to come out here.”

They said they checked the yard and assured safety. They also said police officers knocked on all doors on the street at about 2 a.m., alerting them to stay inside their homes and ask whether they knew anything or saw anything.

“I’m already paranoid and have an extra lock on my screen door,” the neighbor said, who also shared that other neighbors weren't even sure whether anyone was living in the home Bruguier was found dead. “I'm relieved that we’re moving to a new neighborhood at the end of the month."

Another resident on the street, Chris Lipp, also has his house for sale and said he and his wife plan to move soon.

Delayed determination of death

The shooting was originally reported in a press release late Thursday afternoon, confirming Bruguier had died but not specifying whether she had been shot.

Clemens said the delay between the shooting and the determination that the woman's death was homicide was due to the need to perform an autopsy, saying that authorities had wanted to rule out the possibility that Bruguier's cause of death had been a drug overdose.

Police did find drug residue at the home during the investigation, but from what kind of drug was not immediately available, Clemens said. He said the residue may be sent to a state lab for testing, but also clarified no arrests had been made in connection with the unknown substance.

"There used to be no danger here," Reyes Uricar said.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: 'It's scary now': Residents say northwest Sioux Falls neighborhood unsafe after Wednesday homicide