UPDATE: Suspected Sheridan Cop Killer Caught! 30+ Hour Standoff Finally Ends.
More than 30 hours into a standoff, Wyoming tactical police squads and a barricaded man suspected of killing a police sergeant have settled into a “staredown” in residential Sheridan, according to a Cowboy State Daily reporter on scene.
William Lowery, 46, is suspected of shooting Sheridan Police Department Sgt. Nevada Krinkee to death Tuesday morning while Krinkee tried to serve a trespass notice.
A judge had ordered Lowery to vacate the rental house he was in on 5th Street by Monday, after Lowery had been squatting in it for months.
A Sheridan Woman’s House
Lowery ran from the shooting scene and barricaded himself in a nearby house on the corner of 7th Street and North Sheridan Avenue. The house belongs to someone else — a Sheridan woman who said she did not wish to give an interview Wednesday because she didn’t want to “speak out of line” and interfere with the police case.
SWAT and law-enforcement teams rushed in from Natrona County, Campbell County and other Wyoming jurisdictions to help.
They have flooded the house with gas grenades and projectiles, bursting open the windows and garage. On Wednesday morning, police blasted a firehose into the house.
Lowery reportedly fired a firearm toward police Tuesday evening, and again late Wednesday morning.
Some Dust Flew Up
Wednesday morning brought freezing rain then sifting snow, but the afternoon brought only clouds and a 24-degree chill.
By 3:30 p.m., police had blasted more “ferret” gas projectiles into the house and were focusing a spotlight on a room in which they’d detected Lowery — the same room from which he’d reportedly shot.
“We saw some dust fly up (from that direction),” said one agent.
They made a plan to have a robot clear debris around the house so the Bearcat armored vehicle could approach and “open some walls,” an agent said, according to Sheridan scanner traffic. “We have a strategy for that.”
Police reportedly launched three flash bang devices, or stun grenades, into the house Wednesday to rattle the suspect.
To The Autopsy
Meanwhile, a procession of more than a dozen police vehicles escorted Krinkee’s body to the medical examiner’s office in Montana.
A collection of floral bouquets materialized Wednesday at the corner where Krinkee was shot, though he later died at the hospital.
And another line of bouquets grew throughout the day on the landscaping in front of the Sheridan Police Department, where Police Chief Travis Koltiska reportedly pulled a patrol vehicle onto the grass during the night.
All’s Quiet
As of 4 p.m., the Bearcat was parked alongside the building with a gunner still sitting in a roof hatch pointing his rifle (with a shield affixed to its barrel) at the house.
Nothing from the reporter’s vantage point suggested imminent action.
Bystanders’ emotions were raw, one saying, “I would have shot him in the first hour.”
More Coverage
Neighbors Devastated Over Killing Of Sheridan Police Officer
Suspect In Sheridan Cop Killing Was Squatting In Rental House
Standoff In Sheridan, Wyoming Continues: Suspected Killer Reportedly Shoots At Cops
‘Come Out The Front Door!’ Standoff With Suspected Sheridan Cop Killer Hits 24-Hours
Gordon Orders Flags At Half-Staff For Slain Sheridan Police Officer
Suspected Sheridan Cop Killer Remains Barricaded In House As Standoff Nears 24 Hours
Sheridan Police Officer Killed In Line Of Duty, Suspect Barricades Himself
‘Incredibly Saddening’: Wyoming Reacts To Killing Of Sheridan Police Officer
Sheridan Police Officer Shot And Killed, Suspect In Standoff With Law Enforcement
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com and Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
