Three people have been shot to death in a small South Dakota town, and a former police officer who once served as the town’s mayor has been charged in the killings.
Jay Ostrem, 64, was jailed on $1 million bond on three counts of first-degree murder, South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley said in a news release Tuesday.
“Police have secured the scene,” Jackley said. “There is no further threat to the public.”
In a probable cause statement, the victims were identified as two brothers, ages 26 and 21, and a 35-year-old man. They were not immediately identified by name as family members were still being notified. The document did not specify any connection between the third victim and the brothers.
Ostrem worked in law enforcement in Wyoming and South Dakota for more than two decades, according to media reports. He was mayor of Centerville about a year and a half ago, but exact dates were not immediately available.
The probable cause document said a Centerville man called police at 9:44 p.m. Monday to report that his brother had been shot by “a man from across the street” and that the shooter had returned home. The caller was still on the phone with a dispatcher when he said he had also been shot. He then stopped talking, the document said.
Ostrem was arrested a short time later. An AR-style rifle was on the ground next to him and he had a handgun in his pocket, the document said. Officers then went to the home where the call came from and found all three victims there.
Ostrem’s wife told police that a neighbor named Paul sexually assaulted her Thursday, and she told Ostrem about the attack Monday night, the document said. She said Ostrem “got up and left the house in a rage,” according to the document.
It was not immediately clear whether Ostrem had an attorney. Calls to a telephone directory for Ostrem went unanswered.
Centerville is located about 40 miles south of Sioux Falls.
