Ephraim Duolo Shulue was found on the ground late on the night of December 9, 2020, in the 900 block of North Cleveland Avenue in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, after gunfire erupted near an apartment complex parking area. He was a 16-year-old Black/African American male. Police and medics rushed him to a hospital, but he was pronounced dead not long after arriving.
In the first hours after the shooting, investigators said they were still piecing together what happened and asked the public
for help identifying witnesses and anyone who might have seen the moments leading up to the killing. Early reporting described a scene that unfolded quickly, leaving little more than the harsh December cold, flashing emergency lights, and a stunned neighborhood trying to understand how a teenager ended up mortally wounded in a parking area just before 11 p.m.
As detectives dug in, authorities publicly tied the homicide to a drug deal that, according to police accounts reported at the time, spiraled into an attempted armed robbery. Investigators alleged that multiple teens converged on the location expecting a marijuana transaction, and that the encounter turned confrontational. Police later described roles for several youths in the moments before the shooting, including claims that two teens had gone there intending to rob others, and that the confrontation ended with shots fired and Ephraim collapsing to the ground.
Arrests followed in the weeks after the killing. On December 23, 2020, authorities announced that a 17-year-old named Sembel Sale had been taken into custody by a SWAT team and was charged with first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, and attempted robbery. Days later, on December 28, police announced the arrest of Ali Khalifa Ahmed, described as the driver in the incident; he was reported to face murder-related charges as an adult and an attempted robbery charge, with police alleging that he and Sale left the scene after Ephraim was shot.
A third suspect, Devon Moses Montileaux, was described by police as the shooter they were seeking, and authorities said he was still at large as of mid-December while a fugitive task force worked leads. On December 30, 2020, officials reported that Montileaux—then 17—was arrested in Pierre by the U.S. Marshals Service and a fugitive task force, and that he faced second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter charges connected to Ephraim's death.
