A South Dakota police offi­cer and 2005 Ferris grad­u­ate died from injuries Aug. 2 after a shootout while in the line of duty.

James Ryan McCandless, 28, of Midland, attended Ferris on a schol­ar­ship to earn his degree in crim­i­nal justice.

McCandless is the son of retired Midland County Undersheriff James McCandless.

McCandless was a police offi­cer in Rapid City, South Dakota. The Rapid City Journal reported that McCandless, a six-year vet­eran of the depart­ment, died shortly after arriv­ing at Rapid City Regional Hospital.

The news of McCandless’ death made way to Big Rapids and the Ferris com­mu­nity shortly after the inci­dent. The Big Rapids Pioneer reported on McCandless’ death on Aug. 3.

McCandless and two other offi­cers approached four peo­ple at an inter­sec­tion in Rapid City, S.D. Ten min­utes later, one man pulled a gun and fired shots, accord­ing to Rapid City Police Chief Steve Allender.

According to the Rapid City Journal, McCandless is the first city police offi­cer shot dead in the line of duty since 1916.

While McCandless stud­ied at Ferris, he worked at the Mecosta County Jail for three years — first as an intern and then later part-time as a cor­rec­tions offi­cer at the jail.

Greg VanderKooi, a pro­fes­sor in Ferris’ Law Enforcement Academy, told the Big Rapids Pioneer that McCandless’ death is “heartbreaking.”

Capt. Kevin Wood of Mecosta County described McCandless as a “good kid” and “very smart.”

Wood said he was work­ing his way through Ferris to become a police­man as a full time stu­dent while work­ing with Mecosta County Law Enforcement.

“You lose a brother,” said VanderKooi, who has been in law enforce­ment for 30 years and taught McCandless in the acad­emy. “Unfortunately, you have to go in harm’s way as a police offi­cer. This is the result sometimes.”

McCandless was described as an “excel­lent” stu­dent who took his classes and his pro­fes­sion “very seri­ously,” accord­ing to VanderKooi.

“He was a good worker and well liked by every­body,” said Wood.

Ferris’ Law Enforcement Academy has a memo­r­ial in the south­west com­mons ded­i­cated to grad­u­ates who have lost their lives in the line of duty. McCandless’ pic­ture has been added to the memo­r­ial. The memo­r­ial also hon­ors three grad­u­ates who lost their lives pro­tect­ing their com­mu­ni­ties as well.

McCandless had recently got­ten engaged and pur­chased a house before his death.

VanderKooi said McCandless will be greatly missed.

“We’ll make sure that at least he’s in our hearts. His pic­ture will be in the hall­way for peo­ple to see as they walk by. They’ve got to keep that in their minds that this is part of the busi­ness,” VanderKooi told the Pioneer. n

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