One More For The Road

[{"type":"text","text":"Probably the best way to transport large and bulky objects..."}]

One more for no play 2 26 24

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>One More For The Road: Monday, February 26, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Probably the best way to transport large and bulky objects...

One More For The Road: Monday, February 26, 2024

 Probably the best way to transport large and bulky objects...

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Crime & Courts

Before the Carbon County emergency services scanner went dark at around 3:30 p.m. Monday, the dispatchers, officers, deputies and troopers on it described an 

 and manhunt in which at least one law enforcement officer was injured and a Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper’s car was “shot up.”

The saga ended with scanner reports saying the fleeing truck had come to a stop, and one person was dead inside it. 

Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken announced via press release late Monday evening that the shooter died on scene. 

"The subject opened fire on the initial responding deputy, striking him several times," the statement reads.

"The suspect fled the scene in a small truck.  Additional responding deputies and troopers with the Wyoming Highway Patrol engaged in a pursuit with the suspect vehicle on Highway 789 north of Baggs. 

"The suspect opened fire on law enforcement again before driving off the highway and coming to a stop. The suspect was declared deceased at the scene. 

"The wounded deputy was transported to a medical facility in Colorado by Intermountain Air Ambulance."

[{"type":"text","text":"How It Unfolded"}]

The public learned of the incident when Carbon County emergency services called for a shelter in place due to an active shooter situation around 1 p.m. 

Scanner traffic erupted at about that time, when a female dispatcher informed units that a “lady” had called to report a man emerged from a home near or about 49 West Cedar Street, Baggs. That's across the road from the mayor's home. 

The man "came out of the house with a long gun, fired a shot, and now he’s walking around trying to get into an apartment,” the female dispatcher related from the caller’s report. “RP (reporting party) says he has tactical equipment on.”

The male had red hair, a mustache, no shirt, and green camo pants, the dispatcher related. She’d later add from a secondhand description that he had a fanny pack containing ammunition.

A Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper who called himself “132” said he was on his way.

“He’s gone into apartment number one, and now he came out and he’s heading back upstairs,” the dispatcher narrated.

[{"type":"text","text":"The man still had a gun, she added."}]

“He’s getting into a small black truck at this time,” said the dispatcher. Male officers, troopers or deputies pressed the dispatcher for a better description of the truck, and after several minutes personnel said it was reportedly a Toyota Tacoma.

The man headed north through Baggs. The caller didn’t know his name or who he was, the dispatcher said.

One male law enforcement officer said one of the officers was stopping the vehicle.

“Subject is now shooting at the patrol vehicle,” said a male voice on the scanner.

Personnel called in night shift deputies or troopers. They asked for help from Moffat County Colorado, which reportedly later sent two drones along with other help. They asked for a special response team from the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office.

“It appears one of the apartments is on fire,” said the dispatcher at about 1:18 p.m. Eyewitnesses in Baggs said the fire was related to the shooting and chase. 

Traffic indicated at some point the fleeing black truck turned back south. 

The town clerk told personnel, reportedly, that shooting sounds resounded “up on the hill south of Baggs,” said a male officer.

One man asked if law enforcement personnel had heard from a deputy called “66.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“That is negative,” answered the dispatcher."}]

Later someone on the scanner said that residents of the area were “applying aid to 66” and that “66 is down,” while the suspect had fled northward in the black Tacoma.

The sheriff’s evening statement says the suspect opened fire and struck the deputy several times. The deputy was flown to care in Colorado. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Multiple parties on the scanner coordinated medical personnel responses."}]

At 1:29 p.m. a male trooper or other officer shouted, “Shots fired! Shots fired! He’s shooting at – “

[{"type":"text","text":"“He’s right there,” an agent added after a brief silence. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"What Trooper 132 Saw"}]

Around this time the scene was unfolding around mile marker 40 on Highway 789.

[{"type":"text","text":"“Shots fired!” said a male voice again."}]

“He hit my windshield,” said a male voice that sounded like the trooper called 132. “Getting water, he hit my tire.”

But 132 wasn’t done with the incident. He asked a deputy called “64” to pick him up and take him to the next part of the incident so he could keep helping.

A deputy called “68” reported, while catching his breath audibly, that personnel had a “barricaded suspect” just off a two-track or county road, headed west, but that by then, “we have no movement.”

The dispatcher said a special response team had been “activated.” That was about 1:40 p.m.

[{"type":"text","text":"Agents coordinated shutting the highway down."}]

“Sounds like he’s barricaded in the vehicle,” said a male. “I know he shot at 132.”

One agent asked if he should bring an “OIS Bag,” or officer-involved shooting kit.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I don’t know if 132 fired a round or not,” answered the male."}]

The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation confirmed via email to Cowboy State Daily that it was asked Monday afternoon to respond to an officer-involved shooting south of Baggs.

At least one agent requested a “Bear Cat” armored vehicle. It’s unclear where that vehicle was coming from: agents mentioned both Sweetwater County and Casper.

Meanwhile, a “potential structure fire and chemical situation” reportedly progressed on Cedar Street.

[{"type":"text","text":"A propane leak “appears to be there on purpose,” said a dispatcher."}]

The suspect’s vehicle was stationary. Agents weren’t sure if the suspect was still in the vehicle. The final shot was fired at about 1:08, an officer said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Someone called for a bomb squad. "}]

Cowboy State Daily asked the Carbon County Fire District to confirm whether, as scanner traffic indicated, propane tanks had exploded, and the department said it could not confirm.

The trooper known as 132 asked someone to shoot several photographs of his vehicle for the investigation.

“You can’t miss it, it’s a highway patrol car on the side of the road that’s shot up,” said 132.  

Officers wondered aloud if the suspect had fled on foot or was still in the vehicle. Multiple drones were on the way to confirm.

“One occupant deceased,” said an officer, adding a directive to notify the coroner. 

Bakken confirmed late in the evening that the shooter was dead on scene. It’s unclear how he died.

The Sweetwater County bomb squad responded to the apartment complex around 6:45 p.m. 

The Carbon County Sheriff's Office lifted its shelter in place notification for the town of Baggs at 7:48 p.m. - nearly seven hours after implementing it. 

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I Passed 17 Emergency Vehicles\""}]

Cory Overton, a Baggs resident, said he was headed home from his work in the Craig area when a Steamboat Springs, Colorado-based SWAT team passed him on the highway, also headed toward Baggs.

[{"type":"text","text":"He also saw a medical helicopter leaving the town, Overton said."}]

“I passed 17 emergency vehicles before I hit Craig,” he added. Overton said he and his son jumped into the car and headed north, then he took photographs of the aftermath of the incident.

One of the photographs Overton took shows a Carbon County Sheriff’s deputy vehicle with the window seemingly open.

It appeared to be shot by bullets, Overton said, adding that the deputy is a “local guy” known to the community.

Overton said he doesn’t know the shooter. Many people who work in Craig live in Baggs due to cheaper housing costs, he added.

Overton said he’s not sure if the apartment fire is related to the shooting incident. But when law enforcement personnel refer to “the apartment complex,” he said, only one comes to mind.

“That’s really the only apartments we have,” said Overton. That is, except for an old motel used for rent just north of town, he added.

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<title>Deadly Shooting In Baggs, Wyoming: Deputy Injured, Shooter Dead | Cowboy State Daily</title>

An active shooter manhunt unfolded Monday in Baggs where one deputy was injured and the shooter died on scene, Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken confirmed late Monday. The sheriff said the suspect opened fire on law enforcement before driving off a highway.

Deadly Shooting In Baggs, Wyoming: Deputy Injured, Shooter Dead

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Outdoors

A Cody river guide said that his raft was nearly sunk by an electric fence wire strung too low across a river in Park County, while he was out on a float with his girlfriend and her young son on Sunday.

“It was sketchy,” Ryan Anue told Cowboy State Daily on Monday. “It was definitely a situation that could have gone bad fast.”

As he sees it, the manner in which the wire was strung over the river was hazardous and possibly illegal. He said that he reported it to the Park County Sheriff’s Office.

Park County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Monte McClain confirmed that the incident had been reported, and deputies were looking into it.

“There’s no law violation, so far, that we were able to find,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

McClain and Anue said that the owners of one ranch in the area told them the fence wire wasn’t theirs, but belonged to neighboring ranch.

McClain said that as of Monday, deputies hadn’t been able to make contact with the owners of that ranch. Cowboy State Daily was also unable to contact the ranch owners.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"‘We Yelled At Him To Duck’"}]

Anue owns Wyoming Wings & Waters guide service, but said that he was floating the South Fork of the Shoshone River, above Buffalo Bill Reservoir, purely for fun on Sunday with his girlfriend and her 9-year-old son.

They were in his 13-foot inflatable fishing raft.

“That water was high and off-color,” and so, not good for fishing, Anue said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"But they still had a great time."}]

“The current was ripping. It was just a really fun float, there’s some rapids in there,” Aune said.

About two miles above the take-out point, he spotted some wire strung across the river.

There was no way around it, so he decided to take the raft underneath it.

“The 9-year-old was sitting in the front and we yelled at him to duck,” and then the adults did likewise, he said.

They cleared the wire, which was high enough for the raft’s metal thigh brace bars to pass underneath it, he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Second Wire, And Chaos"}]

“We popped our heads back up, and suddenly we see, there’s another wire right there,” Anue said.

“The first wire was head-high. The second wire was neck-level on river right and river left. Down the middle, the wire was bowed, it was probably boat-level, probably two feet off the river,” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“We chose river right,” he added."}]

That time, they didn’t clear the wire. It caught on the raft’s rear thigh bar, and chaos ensued, Anue said.

“The boat was literally going under. We were being dragged under,” he said.

 Anue said he started trying to fling the wire off the bar.

“I’m pretty sure the wire was hot (electrically charged). My shirt got fried and cut open but I didn’t get zapped,” he said.

Finally, the wire apparently came loose from one of its shore connections and “in all the chaos and adrenaline,” Anue said he managed to get it off the thigh bar and the raft floated free.

“Nobody’s hurt and the boat is fine,” he said.

Typical of a child that might not realize the gravity of such a situation, “the kid thought it was kind of funny,” Anue added.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"What Does The Law Say?"}]

Whether it’s legal to put fences or other barriers across rivers in Wyoming remains somewhat contentious.

Landowners may not block passage on navigable waters. But that leaves open for interpretation what actual blockage and “navigable water” mean.

Tensions over the matter recently flared up over a landowner allegedly 

 connecting Pine Creek and the New Fork River near Pinedale.  

A squabble between a Wyoming landowner and a floater in the late 1950s ended up going all the way to the Wyoming Supreme Court in the 1961 case, 

At the heart of the case was whether landowners have the right to deliberately block passage along floatable waters passing through their property. 

The court ruled that landowners can’t do that — because waterways are essentially a public right-of way. 

However, landowners can claim ownership of the river or streambed underneath the water. 

That means that jumping out of a watercraft to wade, or anchoring a boat to a private streambed amounts to trespassing. 

The exception the court made in its Day v. Armstrong decision is when floaters must exit their craft to go through, over or around shallow spots in streams, or barriers across them.  

Fencing may also be placed across a waterway, so long as it isn’t blocking the passage in such a manner that floaters can’t easily go under or around it.

 with dangling vertical safety strings, could help ease tensions between landowners and floaters.

Cody rafters 1 6 8 26

<title>Cody River Guide Says Electric Wire Across River Nearly Sunk Raft With Child In It | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Cody river guide said his raft was nearly sunk by an electric fence wire strung too low across a river in Park County, while he was out on a float with his girlfriend and her young son on Sunday. "This could have gone bad fast," he said.

Cody River Guide Says Electric Wire Across River Nearly Sunk Raft With Child In It

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Public Safety

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"UPDATE: 5:15 p.m."}]

Active Shooting In Baggs, Wyoming: Scanner Traffic Says Law Enforcement Officer Injured

Residents in the Baggs of Carbon County area were ordered to shelter in place Monday afternoon as law enforcement officers responded to a report of shots fired and searched for what authorities described as an "active assailant."

At about 1:50 p.m., residents received an emergency alert that read: "Active assailant in Baggs area. Please shelter in place."

Details about the incident remained scarce Monday afternoon as multiple law enforcement agencies converged on the small south-central Wyoming community near the Colorado border.

Wyoming Highway Patrol Public Information Officer Aaron Brown said that troopers were responding to a report of shots fired in the area.

"None of the troopers have been injured," Brown said, although it’s not known if any other law enforcement responders have been injured.

Brown declined to provide additional details, saying the incident is under the jurisdiction of the Carbon County Sheriff's Office.

“There is a heavy law enforcement presence, and we are asking the public to please avoid Highway 789 between I-80 and Baggs,” according to the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'It's Not Good'"}]

Baggs Mayor Matthew Howell also confirmed an active situation was unfolding, but said he was unable to discuss specifics.

"I wish I could say more, but there is an active situation — and it's not good," Howell said.

After a brief pause during the interview, Howell added, "I'm actually being told to leave right now."

The response appeared to draw law enforcement resources from across Carbon County.

Rawlins resident Raymond Moses said he observed numerous law enforcement vehicles heading toward Baggs.

"They cleared all on-duty police officers in Rawlins and looked like all of the sheriff and highway patrol that was on duty," Moses said. "I got back to Rawlins and seen all the law enforcement heading that way."

Cowboy State Daily has not independently verified the number of officers involved in the response or if anyone has been hurt.

As of Monday afternoon, authorities had not released information about possible injuries, a suspect description or the circumstances surrounding the reported gunfire.

Cowboy State Daily has reached out to the Carbon County Sheriff's Office and Carbon County Emergency Management seeking additional information about the reported shooting and active assailant alert. Neither agency had responded to requests for comment as of publication.

[{"type":"text","text":"UPDATE: 5:15 p.m."}]

Baggs Wyoming Brian Parker via Alamy 12 28 25

<title>Baggs Area On Lockdown As Manhunt Underway For Active Shooter: ‘It’s Not Good’ | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Multiple agencies are responding to Baggs in Carbon County on reports of shots fired, and an emergency message is advising: “Active assailant in Baggs. Please shelter in place.” “There is an active situation — and it's not good," said the mayor of Baggs.

Baggs Area On Lockdown As Manhunt Underway For Active Shooter: ‘It’s Not Good’

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

Courts

CASPER — A 40-year-old Casper man who police allege stabbed another man multiple times for paying off a drug debt with counterfeit money faces up to 10 years in prison.

William Tyler Midgett had his initial appearance Friday on a charge of aggravated assault and battery. He was given a $100,000 cash bond and set for an as-yet unscheduled preliminary hearing, according to court documents made available Monday.

Court records show the investigation began when the Casper Police Department was called to Banner Wyoming Medical Center at 3 p.m. on April 11 after a man was brought in with multiple stab wounds. 

The inside of the Cadillac that transported him to the hospital was covered with blood, and police also found a rolled up counterfeit $100 bill in a cup holder of the car.

When police arrived, the stabbing victim was being attended to by emergency room medical personnel and  told an officer that he did not know who stabbed him and “did not know who would know,” according to an affidavit of probable caused filed in Midgett’s case.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Investigation Unfolds"}]

The investigation led police to an apartment complex in the city and a parking lot where the stabbing is alleged to have happened. The apartment complex was not identified in the affidavit.

A video from a Ring camera at an apartment in the complex showed the victim and another man walking into the parking lot from the north and Midgett approaching from the south.

The affidavit states that children were playing in the area, walking around and riding scooters.

Once the victim and another man walked in together casually from the north, Midgett appeared from the south of the parking lot and took on a fighting stance. 

Midgett and the victim started fighting, and the video showed Midgett trying to swing in a way that indicated he had a weapon in his hand, the affidavit says.

The video showed Midgett fall to the ground and the victim jump on top of him and they rolled on the ground.

“Midgett stabbed (the victim) in his left side with his right hand multiple times,” the affidavit states the video showed. “There was a pause while Midgett was on top of (the victim) and then Midgett’s left hand moved up and down indicating he stabbed (the victim) multiple times again.”

The video showed three other men get Midgett to stand up and after that the victim stood also. 

Midgett walked to the south out of the video frame and the victim and a woman got into the silver Cadillac and drove away, the affidavit states.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Unnamed Sources"}]

“Unnamed sources” told officers that the stabbing was the result of a more than $50,000 drug debt that the victim owed. 

The victim had put his Cadillac up for collateral “and then paid the debt in counterfeit money,” the affidavit states.

One informant told police that the victim’s girlfriend owned the Cadillac, but the victim stated it was his.

“It was believed (the victim) won’t talk to police because it makes everything square and his debt would be erased,” the affidavit states.

Another unnamed informant told police that there are messages and photographs from the victim’s phone showing black-and-white Canon printers used to print the money and photographs of different denominations of suspected fake bills, the affidavit states.

One of the messages supplied to police allegedly sent to the victim’s phone stated that the man had put up the car for collateral and that “we did this because you said you were good for it.”

“Bruh you owe me $54 bands,” the sender allegedly wrote the victim. “I know things are hot but I don’t want some greasy Mexicans showing up on top of it.”

A Casper police investigator interpreted the message that the victim owed the sender $54,000 and the sender was worried that “a Hispanic male would come to collect if they did not pay him back,” the affidavit states.

On April 28, Casper investigators obtained a search warrant for the victim’s phone, and a forensic download of it revealed a message from the phone on March 26 to a woman complaining about the “fake money.”

On April 3, several photos of $20 bills were sent to the victim’s phone by a female contact.

Police also found a message from the victim to a phone number on March 26 that stated a woman had just brought him the money and to let him know when the person was outside.

“I’ll come grab it if it’s there so I can get and go,” the message stated.

Other messages police recovered from the victim’s phone were between the victim and Midgett arguing about the weight of something put in a bag.

During an interview with Midgett on April 11, he denied stabbing the victim. 

A warrant allowed police to collect swabs from what appeared to be blood spots on his jeans and on the back of the sleeve of his shirt.

When Midgett took off his shirt, police saw “a large cut on the back of his left arm near his triceps” with fat and muscle exposed.

Police obtained search warrants for the Cadillac that transported the victim to the hospital and for Midgett’s Dodge Avenger. 

In the Avenger, they found a knife with a blade on both ends and a handle in the middle. The knife had blood on it, the affidavit states.

A witness to the stabbing told police that he went to the apartment complex to visit his mom and after the visit found Midgett standing near his car. 

He knew Midgett from having worked with him. 

He told police that as he was saying “what’s up” that Midgett handed him his glasses and hat.

The witness told police that Midgett asked the victim: “What are we going to do?” And then started fighting him. 

“(The witness) saw Midgett with a knife, and Midgett stabbed (the victim) multiple times in the side of the ribs,” the affidavit states. “Then Midgett stabbed (the victim) in the chest multiple times. 

"That was when Midgett put a knife to (the victim’s) throat and started saying, ‘I’m going to kill you …”

The witness told police another man grabbed Midgett to try and get him away from the victim, while he (the witness) questioned Midgett about what he was doing.

The aggravated assault and battery charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. 

A 40-year-old Casper man was in court Friday, accused of stabbing another man for paying off his drug debt with fake money. "I’m going to kill you,” a witness told police about the attack, which also was captured on video.

One More For The Road: Monday, February 26, 2024

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