1,000 Officers Expected At Funeral For Slain Sheridan Police Sgt. Nevada Krinkee

Sheridan, a tightknit northern Wyoming community nestled in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains, is about to experience a traffic congestion of epic proportions over the next few days.

As many as 1,000 law enforcement officers from around the United States are expected to travel to this town of 19,000, as well as politicians (Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon will be there) and others who support what police do to pay their respects to a well-loved local officer shot and killed at 58 5th St. on Feb. 13, as he attempted to serve a trespass notice at a rental home.

Sheridan’s historic major thoroughfare along Main Street will be barricaded off beginning at 4 a.m. through roughly 1 p.m. Friday as a funeral procession moves slowly through the heart of town carrying the body of Sheridan Police Sgt. Nevada Krinkee. That will be followed by what some estimate could be a 3-mile-long procession of side-by-side police cruisers flashing their lights — no sirens.

Krinkee, 33, was killed when William Lowery, 46, reportedly shot him to death, then fled the scene. Lowery later barricaded himself in a house owned by a Sheridan woman near the corner of 7th Avenue and North Sheridan Street.

Lowrey died at the scene 32 hours later after a prolonged standoff. Police shot and killed him when he attempted to flee the scene.

Lowery had been evicted from the 5th Street home one day earlier by a judge’s order.

Long Blue Line

Representation from police agencies across the western United States and beyond are expected to attend and play a role in Krinkee’s memorial service.

Police officers from Yuma, Arizona, who knocked on the door of Krinkee’s mother to notify her of the sergeant’s death, will attend the funeral service set for 1 p.m. Friday at the Bruce Hoffman Golden Dome on the Sheridan College campus.

The two Yuma officers landed at the Sheridan County Airport on Wednesday.

“This is near and dear to our hearts. We sent officers to her house to make sure she was properly notified,” said Lori Franklin, a spokeswoman with the Yuma PD. “She is part of the Yuma community, and we need to show support in Wyoming for her son.”

The Casper Police Department, which went through a similar tragedy with the death of one of its officers in September 2021, will perform a 21-gun salute for Krinkee inside of the dome.

Last Call For Krinkee

A last call on the dispatch radio also is planned at the memorial service.

The end of watch call, or last radio call, is a ceremony in which, after a police officer’s death in the line of duty, officers from the department gather around a police radio.

The dispatcher issues one final call to the officer, followed by silence, then a second call, followed by silence.

Sometimes the dispatcher will mention the officer's honors and may add other words in memoriam.

Casper police also are advising on some technical aspects of the memorial service given that the department suffered through its own ordeal in 2021.

Casper police officers will patrol the streets of this 12-square-mile town, and respond to calls for where officers are needed. They take over at midnight on Thursday and end their duties at 6 a.m. Saturday. They’re filling in for the city’s police so that Sheridan’s officers can attend the memorial service.

“We are not the only ones helping. There are many jurisdictions involved,” said Casper police spokeswoman Amber Freestone.

Other agencies having a key role in the memorial service include the Wyoming Highway Patrol, Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office and the Billings (Montana) Police Department. The fallen officer’s body was taken to Billings for an autopsy by the medical examiner’s office following his death.

His body was escorted by police and firefighters over 130 miles along Interstate 90 to the Montana city.

A rehearsal for the memorial service is scheduled Thursday.

Scheduled times Friday for when traffic is restricted through town, who gets into the 1,800-seat Golden Dome and how long Main Street will be closed have shifted often in recent days.

An order signed by Sheridan Capt. Tom Ringley this week etched in stone many of the street closures.

Ringley advises everyone who plans to attend to find a parking spot early and plan on not traveling elsewhere in town until after 1 p.m.

“Our tribute to Nevada is to make this as professional as possible, and as smooth as possible,” Ringley said.

Ringley said that he’s still grappling with Krinkee’s death.

The only other time where the people of Sheridan came out to support someone like Krinkee — a military veteran — was when the body of Korean War veteran DeMaret Kirtley briefly stayed in town before going on to his home in Kaycee for burial in 2019.

Kirtley left Wyoming in 1950 and never returned until 69 years later. Media reports from five years ago indicate he was buried by Chinese troops in an anonymous grave near where he likely died. He was disinterred and identified in 2017 as part of an effort by the military to identify Korean War dead.

Memorial Service Plans

On Friday, the memorial service for the Krinkee family begins with a short escort of the immediate family along with Nevada Krinkee’s body from Kane Funeral Home to Thorne Rider Park, located behind the Sheridan police station along West 12th Street.

After assembling there, the procession will move to the police station, then travel to the Golden Dome 5 miles away. The procession will travel through the main business district of Sheridan along North Main Street, take a left onto West Burkitt Street, and then proceed along Coffeen Avenue to Sheridan College’s Golden Dome.

At least five churches have banded together to livestream the Krinkee memorial service from the Golden Dome: Bethesda Worship Center; Cornerstone Church; First Baptist Church; Ignite Wesleyan Church; and Rock Church of the Bighorns.

The pastors at the churches got together to provide the livestream through a loose-knit group in town that calls itself “Pastors United in Christ,” or PUIC as they refer to themselves.

“We all feel it. If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it,” said Sheridan Bible Church Pastor Chris Schuettt. His church is where the Krinkee family attended.

Schuett and other pastors from the church — including Danny Keller, a close friend of Krinkee who also was his supervisor in the Sheridan Police Department — will officiate the memorial service.

“This has rocked us. It has been really cool to see our church respond, and all of the surrounding churches come together,” Schuett said.

From four corners of America, law enforcement officers are traveling to Sheridan to pay their respects to Krinkee and support his wife, Karla, and infant child.

Kane Funeral Home is handling the service for Krinkee, who will be interned in a private ceremony at Sheridan Municipal Cemetery on the hill overlooking downtown Sheridan immediately following the memorial service.

A law enforcement officer from Laramie will play taps for Krinkee in the private ceremony at the cemetery along with a flag presentation made to his wife, Karla.

Krinkee had previously served with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, an airborne infantry division specializing in parachute assault operations into hostile areas.