William Clifford, a 31-year-old man from the Rapid City area, was killed in the early hours of September 6, 2020, after a violent dispute erupted around a house party on the city's south side. Police were called around 3:00 a.m., and when officers entered the scene they found Clifford down in a garage with a gunshot wound to his abdomen; despite urgent efforts to keep him alive until medics arrived, he died there.
Another person was also shot and survived with serious injuries.
In the first days after the shooting, investigators said the evidence suggested drugs may have been part of the backdrop, as if the party's late-night tensions were fueled by more than alcohol and noise. The killing quickly drew wider attention because it came during a stretch of heightened violence in Rapid City that year, and police publicly acknowledged they had a suspect while the search continued.
The hunt ended after an encounter that began like a routine traffic stop. On September 16, 2020, authorities said a deputy pulled over a vehicle with no license plates; the occupants ran, and a sweeping search unfolded across the neighborhood. A drone was used to scan the area, and Jamys Flying Horse was ultimately found hiding in a creek and taken into custody. He was arrested on allegations tied to the shooting and booked on charges that included first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and committing a felony with a firearm.
But the case took a sharp turn in the weeks that followed. Prosecutors later dropped the charges against Flying Horse in connection with Clifford's death and the shooting of the other victim, leaving the homicide without a public courtroom resolution in that filing. The public record in the reporting available online reflects an early arrest and serious accusations, followed by the dismissal of those specific charges, with no conviction reported in that coverage.
