Blaine Avenue shooting investigation continues, suspects in custody

Police have detained two suspects in connection with the investigation into the February 26th shooting on Blaine Avenue.

Shortly after 8:00 p.m. on February 26th, police received a report of a male subject who had just been shot. The reporting party was inside a vehicle, which was transporting the victim to the hospital.

Police made contact with the occupants of the vehicle at Rapid City Regional Hospital. After speaking to witnesses, police learned that the incident took place in an alleyway behind the 700 block of Blaine Avenue. A single occupant of the vehicle was shot and later died at the hospital.

The deceased is identified as 17-year-old Emmanuel Hinton of Box Elder.

Further investigation into the incident revealed that the occupants of the vehicle had made contact with two males who were standing in the alleyway behind Blaine Avenue. At one point during the interaction with the occupants of the vehicle, one of the males in the alleyway produced a handgun and shot inside the vehicle, striking Hinton. The vehicle departed the scene to the hospital. Both suspects from the alleyway fled the area on foot.

The suspects are identified as 19-year-old Andre Martinez and 19-year-old Cole Waters, both of Rapid City. The incident is being investigated as an attempted robbery.

Waters was taken into custody voluntarily earlier on the morning of February 27th. Martinez was taken into custody at his residence in the 300 block of Denver Street following a brief callout of the Rapid City/Pennington County Special Response Team to the address.

The investigation into the shooting is open and ongoing. At this point, homicide and robbery charges are pending against Martinez and Waters.

“These arrests are the result of many hours of diligent work on behalf of detectives, working in tandem with patrol officers and Investigators of the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office,” says Captain John Olson, Commander of the RCPD Criminal Investigations Division. “Thanks to the help of the dedicated law enforcement professionals of the RCPD and PCSO, these two murder suspects will be held accountable for their actions.”

Further inquiries on this case will be referred to the Pennington County State’s Attorney’s Office.