David Ironhorse, a 64-year-old, Native American man, died on December 29, 2019, after a burst of gunfire tore through an apartment building at 851 East Minnesota Street in Rapid City, South Dakota. Late that afternoon, residents reported hearing a rapid series of shots and shouting coming from the second floor, and when officers arrived within minutes they could hear rounds still being fired inside.
As police moved toward the stairwells, the gunman—identified by authorities as Patrick
Alden—fired multiple rounds at officers as they came onto the scene, striking a patrol car and continuing to shoot from the second-floor area. Officers described the shooter advancing with a high-powered, military-style rifle, sweeping it as he moved and firing down the hallway toward law enforcement. In the north stairwell, one officer engaged Alden with his patrol rifle, striking him multiple times; officers attempted first aid, but Alden was pronounced dead at the scene.
With the immediate threat down, officers pressed back up to clear the second floor for other victims or suspects. In the hallway near an apartment doorway, they found Ironhorse suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Officers rendered aid and carried him to an ambulance staged outside, but he died from his injuries. Investigators later documented extensive bullet damage throughout the second floor and recovered evidence consistent with Alden firing a large-caliber rifle during the incident, including shell casings and a rifle identified in the state summary as a Springfield Armory M1.
Authorities did not announce any arrests connected to Ironhorse's killing, because the identified suspect, Alden, was killed during the officer-involved shooting. In the aftermath, police also reported that a separate resident, 81-year-old Thomas Trout, died after being evacuated during the chaos and later found unresponsive in a nearby vehicle, with officials attributing his death to a medical issue complicated by the urgency of the evacuation. A subsequent state summary concluded that the officer's use of lethal force against Alden was justified based on the totality of the circumstances described in the investigation.
