The Rapid City Police Department has released a report on its investigation into a man found dead with a gunshot wound on East Adams Street.

The deceased has been identified as 20-year-old Michael Mayweather of Rapid City.


While authorities initially said they were looking into the incident as a homicide investigation, they have now reclassified it as an unattended death investigation.

Mayweather was found shortly after 3 p.m. on Wednesday in the backyard of a residential home with an obvious gunshot wound to the head. He was declared deceased on the scene.

Police conducted a subsequent search of the area and did not locate a firearm in the proximity of the victim, initially suggesting the wound was not self-inflicted.

Additionally, the residence is known to police for drug activity.

However, as authorities continued to investigate, they learned that an occupant of the residence had purposefully discarded the firearm away from the immediate shooting scene prior to the arrival of first responders.


The firearm was eventually found in a window well, underneath a plastic window cover. Police also learned that one of the home's occupants had attempted to hide drugs and paraphernalia inside the house.

An autopsy performed on Mayweather this morning aligns with the possibility that the gunshot wound was self-inflicted.

The Rapid City Police Department says it has collected evidence from both the scene and the occupants of the house that will be submitted for gunshot residue testing, a process that can take several months.

However, authorities say they are still actively committed to investigating the incident as a homicide until the possibility is completely ruled out.

"Every instance of unattended death in our community receives the same high degree of investigation from detectives and officers," says RCPD Chief of Police Karl Jegeris. "As a law enforcement agency, it's our responsibility to diligently investigate the circumstances of any unattended death. This often means treating an unattended death as a homicide investigation, until evidence gathered suggests otherwise. In this case, we feel the public nature of the shooting incident warrants a high level of transparency into the investigation. It's very important that the community understand the often-difficult nature of the work our officers are presented with."