By: Emilie Rusch Journal staff
The Custer man who was shot and killed by a South Dakota Highway Patrol officer early Tuesday after going on a destructive rampage through his hometown was a Marine who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Cody G. Engen, 22, died during a standoff with law enforcement officers about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to South Dakota Attorney General’s office. In the previous hour, he had used his pickup and a handgun to cause considerable damage to buildings, vehicles, mailboxes and street signs throughout Custer. No one else was injured in the incident.
“Cody was just a normal young man growing up,” said Custer County Sheriff Rick Wheeler, who has worked with his father, Dan Engen, a sheriff’s deputy, for a number of years. “As far as I know, there were no issues or anything.
According to the family, it was a lifelong dream of Cody’s to be a Marine, something he first declared at the age of 5.
He finally joined the Corps in 2007, leaving for the Marine Recruiting Depot in San Diego the day after he graduated from Custer High School.
Stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, Engen was trained as a scout/sniper in the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion and served in both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. He was honorably discharged in May.
Glen Talley, ride captain for the Patriot Guard Riders in Custer, said they will be provide a flag line and escort to Black Hills National Cemetery for Engen, just as they would for any other fallen veteran.
Wheeler said the incident has been even harder to process because Engen’s father is a member of the sheriff’s department. A crisis team will meet with everyone involved Friday.
The sheriff’s office was one of the buildings targeted by Engen, who drove his truck through the department’s front door before exiting the vehicle and damaging the inside of the building and several parked patrol vehicles, as well.
“Small towns, everybody knows everybody. We’ll make it through,” Wheeler said. “We need to take care of the issues that go along with this incident as soon as we can and start the mending process, not only for Dan’s family but for Todd Albertson’s family, as well.”
Albertson is the Highway Patrol officer who shot Engen during the standoff. He is currently on paid administrative leave, which is standard protocol in shootings involving law enforcement officers, according to the attorney general’s office.
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