The night Moses Cole was killed began as a celebration at Falls Park in Sioux Falls, where a wedding gathering lingered into the late hours of August 12, 2018. Cole, a 25-year-old Black man, was caught in the sudden turn from music and conversation to shouting and panic when an argument flared near the crowd and a handgun appeared. Witness accounts described a man pulling a pistol during the dispute and firing into a group, and in the chaos that followed, Cole was struck and rushed to a
hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Another person was hit as well and survived the shooting.
By the next day, investigators had identified a suspect and moved quickly to secure an arrest warrant. Reports described Abraham Garnawu Darsaw as the man police believed had fired the shots, and law enforcement took him into custody on August 13 after the warrant was issued. Early reporting said he was being held on allegations that included second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, aggravated assault, and grand theft, reflecting both the fatal shot and the wider violence and disorder surrounding the confrontation.
As the case worked its way through court, prosecutors maintained that the shooting erupted from an argument tied to an ongoing dispute, with the gunfire sent into a cluster of people rather than a single, isolated target. Over time, the charge posture narrowed, and Darsaw ultimately entered a guilty plea to manslaughter in connection with Cole's death, a resolution that spared the uncertainty of a jury trial but still left a family weighing grief against finality.
In February 2020, a judge sentenced Darsaw to 38 years in prison. Coverage of the sentencing described him apologizing in court when given the chance to speak, while the state emphasized the devastation left behind when gunfire tore through a wedding celebration in a public park, ending Cole's life and injuring another attendee in a moment that was supposed to be remembered for joy.
