July 20, 2022

By Makenzie Huber, for SiouxFalls.Business

A Rapid City man is accused of smashing several vehicles with an ax Tuesday night in the Graham Automotive parking lot, causing over $100,000 in damages, Sioux Falls police said.

The man drove an ax through the hood of 20 vehicles and used the weapon to bust windshields as well, Graham Automotive general manager Al Larimer said. The dealership sells Volvo, Audi and Volkswagen vehicles.

Police arrested the 32-year-old man at the site about 9 p.m. He was arrested without incident and charged with aggravated intentional damage to property,  police spokesman Sam Clemens said.

The damage comes at a time when dealerships across the country are struggling to fill inventory because of chip and other supply shortages. The lack of inventory has increased demand and inflated prices of used vehicles.

“This hurts,” Larimer said. “Some of the vehicles he damaged were ones we just got in and desperately needed.”

Larimer plans to contact the manufacturer to ship more cars to his lot, but he doesn’t have a timeline on when he’ll be able to repair or replace the vehicles. Ten were new, and another 10 were pre-owned.

While police estimate the damage is over $100,000, Larimer is still evaluating the total cost.

“We’re resilient,” Larimer said. “Stuff happens, and we’ll deal with it and continue to do what we do: sell cars.”