Family: Denver officer innocent of attempted murder

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Kachina McAlexander has posted bond and left a South Dakota jail where she was being held after a shootout with local deputies.

Authorities say McAlexander, a 10-year Denver Police veteran, shot at other officers who came to a motel in Custer on March 24 responding to a report that McAlexander might be suicidal.

McAlexander's family offered their first public comments in the form of a telephone answering machine message Friday.

"She's doing pretty good. She's in good spirits," McAlexander's mother says on the recording. "She wanted me to just let you guys know that she is innocent and she will get through and don't worry."

Messages left for McAlexander, her family, and her court-appointed lawyer were not returned.

McAlexander posted bond Thursday after a psychologist told the court she is not an "imminent danger to herself or others."

She is on unpaid investigative leave from her job in records at police headquarters.

Authorities say Highway Patrol Trooper Todd Albertson and Custer County Deputies Frank Kistler and Derek Booker found McAlexander at her Super 8 Motel room with a gun in her hand and she fired several times at them.

No one was hit.

Court filings indicate McAlexander is expected to come face to face with those officers on April 14. All three officers have been requested to appear in court for McAlexander's next hearing.

McAlexander, 31, is charged with three counts of attempted second-degree murder and three alternate counts of aggravated assault.

As a condition of her bond, McAlexander is required to return to South Dakota for trial, stay in touch with mental health professionals and avoid alcohol and weapons.

According to the Denver Post, McAlexander faced weapons charges in 2006 after firing at a television and at the walls of her home in Adams County. Like last week's incident, McAlexander was reportedly suicidal at the time.

A judge acquitted McAlexander of the charges and an appeal by prosecutors was not successful.

A spokesperson for the Adams County District Attorney would not provide information on the case to 9NEWS saying the case information is sealed.

A request by 9NEWS to view McAlexander's Denver Police disciplinary file was rejected on the grounds that an internal investigation has begun, or will shortly.

Denver Police have declined to discuss McAlexander's situation on-camera.