PIERRE, S.D. (DRG News) – A handful of charges have been filed against the 19-year-old suspect in an early morning shooting yesterday (5:45 a.m. Dec. 14, 2020) in rural Hughes County.

Information from the Hughes County Sheriff’s Office says Juan Manuel Pinela has been charged with Aggravated Assault, Reckless Discharge of a Firearm, Ingestion of a Controlled Substance, Zero Tolerance DUI, Failure to Report an Accident (traffic) and Driving While License Suspended.

Sheriff Darin Johnson says Pinela shot the 21-year-old male victim in the chest with a handgun at Pinela’s residence in the northeastern part of the county. A 19-year-old female witness called 911. The victim was taken by ambulance to Avera St. Mary’s Hospital in Pierre, then was air lifted to Sioux Falls with serious injuries.

Johnson says the shooter left the scene in a vehicle before law enforcement arrived, but was located just before 8 a.m., walking, after he had crashed his vehicle about 1.5 miles from the residence. He was treat at Avera St. Mary’s Hospital for minor injuries from the crash. He was then taken to the Hughes County Jail.

Names of the witness and the victim are not being released.

Along with the Hughes County Sheriff’s Office, agencies responding to the incident were the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, Pierre Police Department, Sully County Sheriff’s Office, South Dakota Highway Patrol and the South Dakota Drug Task Force.