Russel Dean Reeves, a 4-year-old White male, died on September 20, 2021, in Rapid City, South Dakota. A relative calling 911 around 5:20 p.m. led police to a mobile home where officers found Russel and his 26-year-old mother, Trisha Paxson-Dennett, both dead of apparent gunshot wounds. Investigators said surveillance video, interviews, and evidence at the scene indicated the case was not a double homicide by a third party but a murder-suicide inside the home the family shared.
Early dispatch information placed the response at a residence on North Spruce Street.
Detectives publicly stated that Russel's father was not a suspect and had been cooperating with the investigation. Police emphasized that the working theory, based on the physical evidence and extensive interviews, was that the mother fatally shot her son and then herself. Authorities also noted they were awaiting routine forensic testing as they finished interviews and provided mental-health resources to both the family and responding officers.
No arrests were made in connection with Russel's death. Local reports in the days immediately following the shootings consistently described the case as a child-murder/adult-suicide, reflecting the fact that the suspected shooter also died at the scene.
