A social media comment about a Laramie County sheriff’s deputy wounded in a shootout sparked a heated online dispute between Sheriff Danny Glick and the owner of a law enforcement website this week.
A post shared by the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday gave a status update on an unidentified officer who was shot last weekend during a confrontation with robbery suspect Rance Tillman. Tillman died in the exchange.
The officer has been discharged and sent home, but a comment by Charlie Pitts, who runs a rural law enforcement support page The Rural Badge, made a comment that Glick found rude.
“Survivable wounds alter lives every day; sometimes they end careers. Your deputy’s fight didn’t end with survival, it just started,” Charlie Pitt, who runs the Rural Badge, commented on the post.
Pitt declined multiple requests for comment from Cowboy State Daily.
Glick took to social media to criticize Pitt’s comments, which he interpreted as callous. He told Pitt that the deputy was not just an officer, but a husband, father, son, community member and more.
“I appreciate your response but, please we just had our Deputy survive a life and death shoot out, if you can’t be more positive/supportive ‘shut [the] hell up,'” Glick wrote.
“Not that I disagree with what you’ve posted..that is a given in any incident of this magnitude-we will heal together..God Bless the fact that he walked out of that hospital, and we were there to share in that moment…we will be there to support he and his family in their recovery and what ever decisions they make, our family.”
Glick apologized for possibly misinterpreting the post and noted this has been an emotional time for everyone in the department. He also suggested that Pitt be mindful of how he represented himself.
The deputy was injured on Saturday in a shootout with Tillman in north Cheyenne.
The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation is currently investigating the shooting.
Sheriff’s Capt. Kevin James told Cowboy State Daily earlier this week that the deputy would have a long road ahead of him for recovery.
