Daily Darwin

[{"type":"text","text":"Guy dresses up in bear suit to scare hapless friend...."}]

Darwin 3 22 24

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

<title>Daily Darwin: Friday, March 22, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Guy dresses up in bear suit to scare hapless friend....

Daily Darwin: Friday, March 22, 2024

 Guy dresses up in bear suit to scare hapless friend....

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's managing editor, Greg Johnson.

Greg Johnson

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

RAWLINS — Six weeks ago, Carbon County Sheriff’s Sgt. Zach Burns was fighting for his life in the dirt parking lot of a Baggs apartment building after 

 from a gunman who later died in a shootout with law enforcement.

Wednesday, he was discharged from a Colorado hospital and got a hero’s welcome as he was escorted roughly 230 miles home by a long procession of law enforcement representing agencies across two states.

 streets through downtown Rawlins were lined with pockets of people who paused their workdays to wave and yell as Burns was driven by with a loud chorus of sirens following.

“That doesn’t surprise me at all,” said local resident Deanna Deffenbaugh about the turnout. “We take care of our own around here.

“Anytime an officer has gotten hurt in the line of duty — even his family — we get the community involved to step up and help take care of them.”

Deffenbaugh said she doesn’t know the Burns family personally, “but that doesn’t matter. If they’re willing to put their lives at risk for us, we need to take care of them.”

Maybe Deffenbaugh doesn’t know Burns, his wife and two young children, but the folks at the Carbon County Courthouse do. He’s their courtroom bailiff, said Jo Rieger, who had staked out a small patch of shade along 3

“Woo-hoo. He’s coming home!” she shouted. “This is cool and very inspiring. He deserves it. He deserves the biggest hero’s welcome ever.”

For Micah Johnson, who also works with Burns at the courthouse, Wednesday was 

, when Burns took bullets in the neck, arm and hip.

“You fear the worst when you first hear about that, you know?” he said. “I think a lot of us were just waiting to hear any kind of piece of news, right? Then I saw the post that he’s coming home today.”

He was referring to a Facebook post Sheriff Alex Bakken made earlier Wednesday telling people that Burns had been discharged from a Colorado hospital and was on his way home.

At 3:31 p.m., the small groups stationed at street corners and in front of the Carbon Building on the corner of 3

 and Pine streets began to cheer as they heard the sirens blaring louder, along with a medical helicopter circling the procession.

“There he is. I see him,” said a woman in the crowd as a Carbon County Sheriff’s Office truck slowly passed.

Sergeant Burns was sitting in the passenger side with the window rolled down and enthusiastically waving to those who gathered for him.

His beaming smile got just a little bit bigger when he saw a giant red, white and blue “Welcome Home Zach” banner.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘We’re All Family’"}]

About an hour earlier, Valeta Rogabaugh was anxious for the procession to get to Rawlins.

The longtime dispatch supervisor for the Rawlins Police Department walked into the bullpen at the department with tears in her eyes.

She had just heard a county dispatch bulletin that Burns and the procession had “come home” and had just passed into Carbon County on westbound Interstate 80.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said when Chief Michael Ward asked how she was holding up. “It’s just emotional. They even talked to (Burns’ wife) and told her welcome home too.”

Although Burns works for the county sheriff’s office, there are deep connections with the Rawlins PD and other agencies, she said.

“We’re all a team and we’re all family,” Rogabaugh said, adding that Burns’ wife also is a dispatcher for the sheriff’s office.

There are no lines between agencies, said Rawlins Police Sgt. Thom Gamblin, adding that he’s good friends with Burns.

“This isn’t just a guy in uniform coming home, he’s a guy who works and lives here. I’m saying that this is a community, this is home, and it isn’t just his workplace,” Gamblin said.

“This isn’t just his work office, it’s people who love him,” he continued. “These are the people who care for him. It’s the people he meets every day when he serves.”

There’s a reason close to 100 officers from multiple jurisdictions around Wyoming and Colorado responded to Baggs that afternoon when the bulletin went out about an officer down and a gunman was on the run, Gamblin said.

“This is personal,” he said. “He did his job and nearly lost his life over it. He didn’t — thankfully — and now he’s back here where we can protect him.”

Without the quick action of a pair of Baggs residents who 

, he likely would have died, said Chief Ward. Wednesday’s procession was for them as well.

[{"type":"text","text":"“They’re heroes, too,” he told Cowboy State Daily."}]

“It’s a miracle that he’s still with us,” Ward added. “All of us are grateful for that, every minute of every day. His daughter still has a father. His wife still has a husband. He’s still with all of us.

“We could not be more relieved, grateful and excited he’s coming home today.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Stopped ‘Large-Scale Act’"}]

The scope of the potential carnage Burns may have prevented unfolded in the days following, Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken has said.

That includes Burns interrupting the suspect carrying out what appeared to be a devastating plan, the sheriff said

The man had a stockpile of semiautomatic weapon ammunition in his Baggs apartment and was likely planning a "large-scale act," Bakken reported June 17.

Burns was in the area June 8 when dispatchers relayed information about a suspect in an active shooting incident. Burns located the suspect driving in town and conducted a traffic stop at his apartment, the CCSO has reported.

“Upon coming to a stop, the suspect immediately exited his vehicle and opened fire on Sergeant Burns with a semiautomatic rifle,” Bakken said in the report.

The suspect — who so far has not been publicly identified — then 

The suspect tried to start his apartment complex on fire with numerous propane tanks inside, then sped away in his car again, according to the CCSO.

He was eventually killed in a shootout with law enforcement after crashing his car north of town off state Highway 789.

“Thanks to his bravery, (Burns) saved the lives of countless first responders and community members,” Bakken says in the report. “The gunman had stockpiled hundreds of AR-15 magazines in his apartment and, by all appearances, had been prepared to initiate a large-scale act of violence.”

At the Hilltop Conoco station along Cedar Avenue, Paige Garwood and Heather Stalinski were working Wednesday afternoon, handling a steady stream of locals and visitors driving through just off I-80.

They both said they were excited to learn that the long procession of emergency responders for Burns would go past their station.

Neither knows Burns or his family, but both said that Rawlins is a small town, and when one person is in trouble, everyone knows and responds.

“I’ve been reading about him and heard what happened to him. He’s a hero,” said Stalinski. “That he’s coming home is really good, and great for his family, his wife.

“I think he was really brave for what he did. He’s a brave, brave man. I think she should get a lot of (accolades). Would I call him a hero? Absolutely.”

Garwood said that Burns getting out of the hospital and getting back to Rawlins is a great boost for the whole town.

“I think it’s great that he’s coming home, because he almost died because of that idiot,” she said. “He deserves it.”

For Chief Ward and other law enforcement officers, the risk is always there, he said. While running toward danger while others run from it is what they sign up for, the hope is that they won’t have to.

“He took an oath to protect our community, and he almost gave his life doing so,” Ward said about Burns. “On the scale of heroism, that’s pretty far up there.”

Sgt Burns Home 1

<title>Hero’s Welcome In Rawlins: Deputy Nearly Killed In Baggs Shootout Comes Home | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Sgt. Zach Burns — shot three times by a gunman in Baggs last month — got a hero’s welcome in Rawlins after a 230-mile escort from a Colorado hospital Wednesday. “On the scale of heroism, that’s pretty far up there,” said the Rawlins police chief.

Hero’s Welcome In Rawlins: Deputy Nearly Killed In Baggs Shootout Comes Home

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Law Enforcement

A Wednesday afternoon at a Cheyenne hardware store gave way to flashing lights, drawn guns and a swift police response after a reported armed robbery outside Ace Hardware that ended with three people in custody and multiple firearms recovered.

Within minutes of the first 911 call, police flooded the east side of the city.

By about 3:30 p.m., at least eight law enforcement vehicles with emergency lights flashing were clustered near athletic fields east of the store, where officers appeared to be investigating and searching vehicles.

Motorists slowed as they passed, trying to make sense of the sudden show of force.

[{"type":"text","text":"Cheyenne resident Cassadie Randolph was one of them."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"She pulled over after spotting the police activity."}]

"I just saw someone in handcuffs and cops looking through the vehicle," Randolph told Cowboy State Daily just before 4 p.m. 

What she witnessed was the aftermath of what police say began just minutes earlier.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Armed Robbery"}]

According to the Cheyenne Police Department, officers were dispatched at approximately 3:06 p.m. Wednesday to a report of an armed robbery at Ace Hardware, 3505 E. Lincolnway.

They located three people believed to have been involved in the robbery and took them into custody, police said. Officers also recovered firearms.

[{"type":"text","text":"No injuries were reported."}]

"Officers do not believe there is an ongoing threat to the community at this time," the department said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.

Police have not yet identified the three people who were arrested or announced what criminal charges they may face.

Authorities also have not released details about what happened before officers arrived, what property may have been taken, or whether the victim and suspects knew one another.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Firearms Recovered"}]

Earlier emergency dispatch traffic indicated the robbery was reported in the Ace Hardware parking lot and that officers were searching for a vehicle believed to be connected to the crime before making the arrests. 

The investigation drew a significant law enforcement presence to the area, with patrol vehicles from multiple directions converging.

Witnesses watched as officers secured the scene, detained at least one person and searched a vehicle while investigators worked nearby.

As investigators continue gathering evidence, authorities have not indicated whether additional arrests are expected.

Police also have not yet said what led to the robbery.

Ace arrest 7 22 26

<title>Three Arrested After Reported Armed Robbery Outside Cheyenne Ace Hardware | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A reported armed robbery outside of an Ace Hardware in east Cheyenne sparked a major police response Wednesday. Three people were arrested and multiple firearms recovered. "I saw someone in handcuffs and cops looking through the vehicle," a witness said.

Three Arrested After Reported Armed Robbery Outside Cheyenne Ace Hardware

A predawn law enforcement operation stretched across western Wyoming and eastern Idaho on Tuesday, as federal, state and local investigators executed coordinated search warrants in what authorities describe as a drug trafficking investigation.

By the time the raids were over, investigators said they had seized large quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine and other evidence tied to drug distribution.

[{"type":"text","text":"One man now faces five felony drug charges and a child endangering count."}]

But beyond those basics, much of the investigation details have not been released. 

Authorities have declined to answer questions about exactly where the raids took place, how much narcotics were seized, how long the investigation had been underway, or whether more arrests are expected.

[{"type":"text","text":"Three Communities Targeted"}]

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office announced Wednesday that deputies, the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal, state and local agencies carried out simultaneous search warrants Tuesday in Etna, Jackson Hole and Victor, Idaho.

Officials have not identified the addresses where the warrants were served, including the Etna location.

The coordinated nature of the operation — spanning three communities in two states — suggests investigators could've been targeting an interconnected investigation.

The sheriff's office described the seizures only as "large amounts" of methamphetamine and cocaine, "along with other evidence related to drug trafficking."

[{"type":"text","text":"Officials have not released the quantities of drugs recovered."}]

The only person publicly identified so far is 42-year-old Julio Jaimes Angeles.

[{"type":"text","text":"He has been charged in Lincoln County with:"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Tight-Lipped Investigation"}]

Despite the unusually broad operation, investigators are saying little about what led to Tuesday's raids.

Cowboy State Daily sought additional information from both the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation. Neither agency returned a comment beyond the written news release, citing the ongoing investigation.

Lincoln county drug guy 7 22 26

<title>One Man Charged After Sweeping Drug Raids Across Western Wyoming, Eastern Idaho | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A 42-year-old man is facing five felony drug charges and another count of child endangerment after the DEA and DCI launched drug raids in Lincoln County, Teton County and Victor, Idaho. Investigators said they seized large quantities of meth and cocaine.

One Man Charged After Sweeping Drug Raids Across Western Wyoming, Eastern Idaho

Crime & Courts

Courts

A Jackson man is accused of twice blasting another driver in the face with bear spray during a road rage showdown, leaving the victim temporarily blind and gasping for air.

Police say the second burst is what turned an angry traffic dispute into a felony.

Leonardo Enrique Dominguez was arrested Sunday and charged with aggravated battery after investigators allege he intentionally caused serious bodily injury, as stated in a probable cause affidavit filed Monday in Teton County Circuit Court.

Prosecutors have charged Dominguez with aggravated battery, claiming he intentionally caused serious bodily injury "under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Road Rage Call"}]

The confrontation unfolded shortly before noon Sunday near the Loaf 'N Jug gas station along West Broadway Avenue in Jackson.

Police responded to reports of a road rage assault involving bear spray and found a man kneeling beside his white Dodge Caravan.

The affidavit says the man was coughing violently, his eyes were burning and he was unable to answer officers' questions. Mucus and tears streamed down his face as emergency responders treated him before transporting him to the hospital.

Witnesses told police they had been driving behind the man when a gray Toyota Tacoma pulled alongside his stopped van.

They said someone inside the truck sprayed bear spray through the passenger-side window of the van, the affidavit says. As the man stood in the doorway of his van, they said he was sprayed a second time directly in the face before the truck sped away.

Officers later noted the interior of the man's van still reeked of bear spray, which made one of the corporal's "eyes burn" and caused them to cough, according to the affidavit.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Pulled Over "}]

At the hospital, the man who had been sprayed told investigators the road rage encounter began after another truck tried merging into his lane, nearly forcing him onto the sidewalk.

He said he pulled over simply to ask the other driver what he was doing. Instead of an explanation, he said he was immediately blasted with bear spray.

The man denied threatening the other driver and said he had never seen him before.

A request for further comment from the driver of the van was not returned by publication. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Self Defense Argument"}]

Investigators reviewed surveillance video and license plate camera data that led them to a gray vehicle registered to Dominguez.

Officers found the truck parked outside his apartment later that afternoon, the affidavit says.

Dominguez agreed to speak with police and acknowledged spraying the man twice, but insisted he acted in self-defense.

The affidavit says Dominguez claimed the man sped up to block him, brake-checked him, yelled profanities and aggressively approached his driver's window.

He said he displayed the bear spray first as a warning before using it, the affidavit says.

Dominguez admitted spraying the man once through the driver's window of the van and a second time after he returned to his own vehicle, saying he feared the confrontation was continuing.

He also told officers he didn't call police because he believed surveillance cameras had captured the encounter and assumed officers would eventually contact him.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Felony Charge "}]

When officers located Dominguez's vehicle, they reported seeing rags inside "as if the vehicle had been cleaned,” the affidavit says. 

They also observed tactical gear, flashlights, a knife and patches mounted throughout the truck's interior.

Dominguez told investigators his truck was equipped with a dash cam that may have recorded the incident.

The investigating officer wrote that bear spray is intended to stop bears — not people — and can cause severe eye injuries, swelling, airway constriction and potentially life-threatening respiratory complications when used at close range.

Police concluded there was probable cause to arrest Dominguez after considering witness statements, the alleged victim's account and Dominguez's own admission that he sprayed the man a second time.

Investigators say that second burst came after Bilen had already returned to his own vehicle, leading them to conclude the use of force was no longer justified and supported a charge of aggravated battery.

Dominguez made his initial appearance Monday afternoon before Teton County Circuit Court Judge Erin Weisman, who set his bond at $5,000 cash. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 31.

Jackson Loaf N Jug green sign 7 21 26

<title>Jackson Man Accused Of Blasting Driver With Bear Spray In Road Rage Showdown | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Jackson man is accused of blasting another driver twice with bear spray during a Sunday road rage showdown, leaving the victim struggling to breathe. He admitted using bear spray on the other driver, but told police it was self-defense.

Jackson Man Accused Of Blasting Driver With Bear Spray In Road Rage Showdown

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Outdoors

Montana grizzly advocates say it should be mandatory for hunters and trappers to carry bear spray in grizzly country — a move they say will make people safer and save bears from being shot.

A coalition of 19 Montana organizations and 46 individuals Tuesday submitted a petition to the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission to require carrying bear spray, much like hunters are required to wear fluorescent orange.

Similar petitions were filed in Wyoming and Idaho in 2019, but those efforts failed.

The push for mandatory bear spray touches on the debate over whether a firearm or bear spray is better for stopping a grizzly attack.

Another point of debate is how many grizzlies can be killed without imperiling bear recovery in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

While grizzlies are not hunted in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, it is legal to kill one in defense of human life.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Alternative to ‘Going for the Gun’"}]

One of the petitioners, Mike Bader of Missoula, said the intent is not to forbid hunters or trappers from also carrying handguns for bear defense if they choose.

But making bear spray mandatory would be no different than wildlife agencies requiring fluorescent orange or requiring that boaters wear life jackets, he told Cowboy State Daily.

“We’re looking at the facts of the matter. And the fact is, hunting and trapping significantly increase your chances of having an encounter with a bear,” said Bader, a grizzly ecologist and former Yellowstone National Park ranger.

Trappers might use meat or other bait that can attract bears, he said. And hunters move stealthily, often through thick cover and at dawn and dusk.

Mandatory bear spray would give them “another alternative rather than going for the gun first” in case of a bear encounter gone bad, Bader said.

There has been a steady increase in the number of bears shot and killed by hunters claiming self-defense, he said.

That adds to the grizzly death toll, which could threaten bears’ full recovery in the Rocky Mountain West, he added.

An important element of full grizzly recovery is robust genetic exchange between subpopulations, such as the Greater Yellowstone population and Montana’s Northern Continental Divide grizzly population, Bader said.

Requiring bear spray would help protect grizzlies, but human safety should remain a priority, Bader said.

“Of course we want to stop bears from getting killed. But the primary thing, just like with hunter orange or life vests, is that it’s a public safety thing,” Bader said.

“All of the wildlife agencies encourage bear spray,” he added.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Game and Fish Stresses Education"}]

Petitions were filed in 2019 to mandate bear spray for hunters in Wyoming and Idaho, Kristin Combs, executive director of Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, told Cowboy State Daily.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"The petitions were rejected, she said."}]

Then-Game and Fish Commission member Peter Dube said bear spray should be encouraged for anyone venturing into Wyoming’s backcountry.

However, “I don’t think it needs to be a requirement,” he said, according to notes from the commission’s July 19, 2019, meeting in Rock Springs.

Game and Fish Director Angi Bruce told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that the department emphasizes education regarding safety in grizzly country and how to properly use bear spray.

“We have discussed this option (mandating bear spray) with our commission in the past and decided, rather than making it mandatory, that we would prioritize providing education and outreach, as well as providing free bear spray and training,” she said in a text message.

Mandating bear spray also isn’t something the Game and Fish Commission could have decided on its own. 

It would have required action by the Wyoming Legislature, Bruce added.

Game and Fish hosts bear safety seminars around Wyoming. Participants are invited to test their bear-spraying skills by going up against Robobear.

Robobear is a wheeled contraption with a facsimile of a bear mounted atop it that can reach speeds of 20 mph or more as it charges.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Won’t Fly With Hunters"}]

Guy Eastman of Cody has hunted numerous times in grizzly country and told Cowboy State Daily that he acknowledges the value of bear spray.

Even so, he doesn’t favor making it mandatory, and the idea “isn’t going to fly with the hunters,” said Eastman, who represents the third generation of the outdoor multimedia family.

“It’s one of those things that sounds good on paper. But the actual logistics of implementing that, monitoring it and babysitting people to carry it — that’s a whole other issue,” he said.

Also, even when hunters are carrying bear spray, they might see the rifle in their hands as the best first option if a grizzly charges them, Eastman said.

“You think you’re going to set your rifle down and reach for the bear spray? No. There’s going to be a ‘boom,’” he said.

Eastman added that he thinks the number of grizzlies killed defensively by hunters will never come close to the number killed by wildlife agencies for such things as attacking cattle.

Some argue that opening a hunting season for grizzlies in Wyoming wouldn’t affect human-bear conflicts. Others claim that it would make a difference by making grizzlies more fearful of humans.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Eastman takes the latter view."}]

"We’re not arguing over whether bears are going to die. Bears are going to get killed. We’re arguing over who is going to do it (hunters or wildlife agents),” he said.

Bruce recently told the Legislature’s Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee that Game and Fish agents are likely killing more grizzlies than hunters would during grizzly hunting seasons.

Griz bear spray 7 21 26

Grizzly advocates in Montana submitted a petition Tuesday to make bear spray mandatory for hunters like wearing fluorescent orange is now. Guy Eastman of Cody has hunted numerous times in grizzly country and said the idea “isn’t going to fly with hunters.”

Daily Darwin: Friday, March 22, 2024

In case you missed it

More in Daily Darwin

Daily Darwin: Thursday, July 23, 2026

Daily Darwin: Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Daily Darwin: Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Daily Darwin: Monday, July 20, 2026

Most read