Daily Darwin

[{"type":"text","text":"Bob’s build a helicopter from used vacuum parts goes awry…"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"NOTE: Bob was not injured."}]

Darwin 5 23 24

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

<title>Daily Darwin: Thursday, May 23, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Bob’s build a helicopter from used vacuum parts goes awry…

Daily Darwin: Thursday, May 23, 2024

 Bob’s build a helicopter from used vacuum parts goes awry… NOTE: Bob was not injured.

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

Clair McFarland

Crime & Courts

The family of Buck Laramore is collecting $400,000 after Laramore’s 2023 death in a shootout with Thermopolis Police sergeant Mike Mascorro, according to a settlement agreement Cowboy State Daily obtained Friday.

 without a warrant April 28, 2023, to arrest him on suspicion of misdemeanor police interference.

Laramore, 33, had given Mascorro inaccurate information during a drug investigation at the local McDonald’s restaurant earlier that day.

Laramore shot Mascorro through the lung. The sergeant returned fire, killing Laramore.

Months later, special prosecutor Dan Erramouspe determined that Mascorro was 

 for homicide because of a provision of state law protecting police officers on the job, even when they act outside the law.

Debra Laramore, Buck’s mother, and Brandi Laramore, his wife, 

in April 2025 against the Thermopolis Police Department and Mascorro in his individual capacity.

The settlement says the family will receive $400,000. It also says Mascorro acknowledges he will not 

 at any law-enforcement agency, or seek to regain his 

[{"type":"text","text":"The sued parties do not concede legal liability, the settlement says."}]

Debra Laramore delivered a tearful statement in a Friday phone interview on behalf of herself and the family.

 and the community members who stood up and spoke out on the case,” she said. “From the petition, protest, to speaking at the council meetings when we simply could not.”

Debra added, “We’re so grateful to our amazing team of lawyers who believed in our case and our fight for justice.”

Etna-based attorney Jack Edwards led this suit along with Branden Vilos and Kaden Canfield.

The Wyoming Local Government Liability Pool’s share of that on behalf of the town of Thermopolis is $133,333, LGLP director Tory Racines said Friday.

The town itself bears its $1,000 deductible as its only direct cost, Mayor Adam Estenson said in a social media statement, which he also sent Friday to Cowboy State Daily.

Cowboy State Daily reached out to the Wyoming Self-Insurance Pool and to Mascorro’s attorney Kay Lynn Bestol on Friday to learn what the insurance pool or Mascorro’s share of the remainder is and to invite Bestol to comment on Mascorro’s behalf.

Neither responded by publication time. Bestol’s receptionist conveyed she was in depositions all day.

Edwards said the Wyoming Self-Insurance Pool paid the other two-thirds on Mascorro’s behalf.

“It was an honor to represent these folks and to stand up on behalf of the Constitution,” said Edwards.

Speaking on his own behalf, Estenson said “the loss of any life is a tragedy.”

“My hope and prayer is simply that healing can continue for everyone affected,” he said.

As part of the settlement agreement, the town conceded in a Tuesday Facebook post that Mascorro had probable cause to arrest Laramore for interference with a peace officer, but did not have probable cause to arrest him for possession of methamphetamine.

The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation report from the shooting compiles witness interviews, bodycam footage and physical evidence.

It concludes that Mascorro broke into Buck Laramore’s home to arrest the man for the misdemeanor of interfering with a police officer because Laramore had lied about his surname spelling and age earlier on the date of the fatality, April 28, 2023.

Mascorro was investigating the presence of meth at the McDonald’s where Laramore worked.

Laramore was the last person to exit the McDonald’s men’s bathroom right before Mascorro and a sheriff’s deputy found meth in it.

[{"type":"text","text":"One witness described Laramore’s behavior as “shifty.”"}]

Mascorro patted down Laramore, questioned him, tried to get him to give a urine sample and disclose his address, the report says. Health authorities shut down the restaurant and personnel started cleaning it.

[{"type":"text","text":"Laramore left the McDonald’s before his shift was officially over."}]

“Don’t five (sic) them my address without a warrant this is ridiculous,” Laramore texted a co-worker soon after leaving the restaurant, according to the DCI report.

He sent another text one minute later: “And I left without clocking out and the m aching (sic) needs aired out I was tired of getting harassed over something that had nothing to do with me.”

Police were investigating the restaurant already because about a week earlier they had arrested McDonald’s employee Derrick Collins on a local warrant and allegedly found him in possession of a meth pipe, the report says. Collins claimed the pipe belonged to a co-worker.

Laramore went home to his double-wide mobile home on Canyon Hills Drive and laid down in bed with Brandi for a nap, the wife later told a DCI agent.

[{"type":"text","text":"She woke to the sound of someone “pounding on the door.”"}]

She went to the door and found Mascorro there, saying he had come to arrest Laramore for impeding his investigation, the report relates.

[{"type":"text","text":"Buck Laramore came to the door after his wife answered it."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Mascorro told him to come outside and talk."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“No sir,” answered Laramore."}]

Either Laramore would come out willingly or Mascorro would break the door down, the sergeant said after a back-and-forth, reportedly.

Laramore then told Mascorro his true surname spelling and date of birth, then shut his front door and deadbolted it.

[{"type":"text","text":"Dead Bolt Shot Into Home"}]

Mascorro pulled the storm door open and rammed the locked wooden door with his left shoulder. He then switched to his right shoulder and rammed the front door twice.

[{"type":"text","text":"“Stop!” yelled Brandi Laramore."}]

Mascorro rammed with his right shoulder again, damaging the door, breaking the doorjamb and sending the deadbolt flying toward the kitchen threshold inside the home, the report indicates.

[{"type":"text","text":"Mascorro pulled the front door shut behind him."}]

Just then, Buck Laramore gripped a .45 pistol in both hands, aimed it directly at Mascorro and fired one time, dropping Mascorro to the ground.

The bullet entered through Mascorro’s right bicep, passed into his chest near his armpit, glanced off a rib to dodge his heart, wounded his lung and exited through his back just to the left of his spine. The bullet came to rest lodged between his flesh and his clothing, the report indicates.

[{"type":"text","text":"It felt like a sledgehammer blow, Mascorro later told a DCI agent."}]

Laramore advanced on Mascorro as Mascorro pleaded “stop, stop,” the report continues.

[{"type":"text","text":"Bullets flew past the bodycam viewer."}]

Those bullets were from Mascorro’s gun, which he drew and fired about seven times after getting shot, the investigation would later reveal.

Mascorro’s wounds squirted blood into view and dribbled it down his right arm.

Reflecting on that moment in his interview 12 days later, Mascorro told a DCI agent he didn’t know why Laramore didn’t shoot him in the head just then.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Show Your Hands"}]

Mascorro started walking backward into the kitchen, telling dispatch shots had been fired. He gripped his own pistol in his left hand, maintaining cover on the doorway to the room from which Buck Laramore had emerged.

[{"type":"text","text":"Brandi Laramore screamed frantically."}]

Around this time, she later told an investigator, she rushed her dog and herself to safety in the bathroom.

Laramore then eased around the bedroom’s doorjamb, exposing a sliver of his upper body.

[{"type":"text","text":"Mascorro fired one round."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Laramore’s body had “an obvious reaction,” indicating a hit."}]

One second later, Mascorro fired again, dropping Laramore to the floor just inside the bedroom.

[{"type":"text","text":"Two more seconds passed. Mascorro fired a third round."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“Stop, stop,” pleaded Buck Laramore."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Mascorro commanded the man to show his hands."}]

Still in the kitchen, Mascorro fell to his hands and knees. His right hand slipped in his own blood, dropping him onto his stomach. His pistol slipped from his left hand, slid toward the kitchen cabinets and came to a rest.

Mascorro stood again and again he fell, catching himself on the kitchen counter and leaving bloody handprint smears along it.

“Move,” he said when he tried to get past Brandi Laramore, who was standing in the hallway, the report says.

[{"type":"text","text":"“What are you doing?” she asked him."}]

Mascorro fumbled for the back door. He couldn’t get the back storm door open and he fell down backward onto the floor while trying.

[{"type":"text","text":"Brandi Laramore stood over him and screamed."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Mascorro fought for breath."}]

Brandi Laramore withdrew from Mascorro, still screaming, the report indicates.

“Shots fired, shots fired, shots fired, I need help, I’m down, I’ve been shot, help,” Mascorro said into his radio.

He sat up, scooted out the back storm door and slid off the side of the unrailed back metal stairs onto his feet. He walked away from the home toward his patrol vehicle.

[{"type":"text","text":"Sirens sounded outside."}]

Meanwhile in the home, Brandi Laramore checked on her husband and believed he was dying, a summary of her later interview relates.

[{"type":"text","text":"‘Right There,’ Said The Neighbor Kid"}]

Mascorro collapsed to the ground between a pickup with a bed camper and a Saturn car.

[{"type":"text","text":"Deputy Shayna Cox arrived on scene and got out of her vehicle."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"A kid stood near the trailer."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“Where is he?” Cox asked the kid."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The kid pointed to where Mascorro lay. “Right there,” he answered."}]

Mascorro’s face was pale and his body gushed blood. Cox went to him, pulled him to a position of “better cover,” and put a tourniquet on his right arm. Taking off his vest and shirt, she found his chest wound and applied pressure to it.

When an ambulance arrived, Cox grabbed her rifle and joined Hot Springs County Sheriff Jerimie Kraushaar in the trailer house.

There she saw Brandi Laramore, face-down and handcuffed. Kraushaar told Cox to radio dispatch to announce that Buck Laramore was dead in the home.

“He’s dying in here,” said Brandi Laramore. “I don’t know what happened.”

Mascorro was rushed to care and returned to Thermopolis amid a hero's welcome days later.

Law enforcement reportedly recovered meth from the home, ranging from a finding of a trace amount — 0.1 gram on a piece of foil — to 7.2 grams in plastic baggies, the report says.

The report says agents also found 1 gram of suspected marijuana in plant form and four cellphones, one of which was Brandi Laramore’s.

The other three phones were Buck Laramore’s, Brandi Laramore later told DCI.

DCI Special Agent Kiel Holder asked Mascorro during their later interview why he’d used deadly force.

Mascorro said he was certain at the time that Laramore was about to kill him and felt there was no other choice.

Holder asked if there were other officers working in the area at that time who could have gone to the home with Mascorro and helped him.

Mascorro said he was the only patrol officer on shift for his department during the incident. He knew Deputy Shaina Cox was working for the sheriff’s department that day, but he’d already asked for her help and had taken up a lot of her time, he said.

[{"type":"text","text":"“It’s the nature of this job,” he added."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"About Breaking In"}]

Thermopolis police protest mom and mascorro 2 7 15 25

<title>Family Of Thermopolis Man Shot By Cop Gets $400K In Settlement | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The family of a man shot to death in a shootout with a former Thermopolis police sergeant will receive $400,000 in a settlement agreement. A special prosecutor determined the sergeant entered the man's home illegally.

Family Of Thermopolis Man Shot By Cop Gets $400K In Settlement

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Wildlife

During almost every human-bear encounter, the bear just wants to leave or, at worst, might attack because it’s startled, agitated or defending its cubs.

In the most terrifying and extremely rare cases, a bear sizes a person up as a possible meal.

California resident Ryan Lutes believes he had a predatory encounter with a female brown bear in Sitka, Alaska, during the first week of June.

He told Cowboy State Daily that he credits confidence and bold action for coming out of the encounter unscathed.

[{"type":"text","text":"‘I Planted My Ass’"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Lutes said he encountered the bear near a raptor center along the trails."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"He approached the center but discovered it was closed."}]

Needing to answer nature’s call, he entered some thick cover at the end of an abandoned road.

“It looked like a good place to take a leak,” he said. “I was just finishing buckling my pants back up when I heard the unmistakable crunching of leaves that I knew could come only from the weight of a bear or human.” 

[{"type":"text","text":"He said the bear almost immediately locked eyes with him."}]

“The second she made eye contact with me, I knew I had to plant my ass,” standing firm and not appearing weak, he said.

[{"type":"text","text":"And he started taking video with his cellphone."}]

Lutes said he and the bear went through an intense back-and-forth for at least several minutes.

At one point the bear charged, and he dropped his phone. When he scared the bear back by shouting at it, he picked up his phone and started taking video again.

At another point, the bear “got down on her belly with her head away from me, like a dog,” and he thought he’d finally established dominance over it.

But then, “she popped back up like a jack-in-the-box," and the standoff began all over again.

Lutes said he was pumped full of adrenaline and not particularly proud of “some of the language I was using in those videos.”

Eventually, the bear “stuck its head in some brush” as if it had lost interest in him, and Lutes left quickly.

He said he learned later that the bear’s two juvenile cubs might have been shot while trying to kill goats with her, and so she might have been “angry” toward people.

Lutes loves traveling to Alaska, as well as Wyoming, Montana, and other wild places, and has had plenty of bear encounters.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"But this one was different, he said."}]

The bear was alert, fixated on him, and approached boldly and quietly.

“At some point, her hair touched my arm. Then my adrenaline hit the roof, and I started screaming and going after her,” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"‘The Perfect Storm Of A Few Things’"}]

It’s been a busy year for human-bear encounters. In May, two brothers were mauled by a grizzly in Yellowstone National Park. And a man was killed in a grizzly attack in Montana’s Glacier National Park.

Attacks by grizzlies and black bears have also been reported in Colorado, Canada, and elsewhere. Most recently in Wyoming, a woman was hospitalized Monday after a 

 while hiking with her dogs near Teton Pass.

None of that means that bears are getting meaner, said wildlife filmmaker Casey Anderson, who lives in Emigrant, Montana, and has had thousands of bear encounters.

“There’s a perfect storm of a few things. More people going into wild spaces. There are more bears in wild spaces. Wild spaces are shrinking, and everybody’s got a camera,” Anderson told Cowboy State Daily.

That ubiquitous presence of cellphones and social media means that people can document wildlife encounters and share them like never before, Anderson noted.

So, while there might be a genuine increase in the number of human-bear encounters, the new technology might give the impression the numbers have absolutely exploded, he said.

Anderson used his own social media platform to share video of the Lutes encounter and uses it as a tutorial of highly unusual and spooky bear behavior.

Lutes said he usually carries a firearm or bear spray in the wild. But on that day he had neither. He was just trying to burn off a little time before picking up a friend from work by hiking on some Sitka municipal trails that are essentially right in town.

Having no defense mechanism, and with the bear acting the way it was, Lutes “did the right thing,” Anderson said.

“He was standing his ground and being counter-aggressive,” Anderson said. “It’s super-intense. To have that kind of encounter without protection. That’s intense.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Focused, Determined, Deadly"}]

,” produced by the International Bear Association (IBA), is still regarded as one of the best bear safety tutorials.

A segment of the video covers signs of predatory behavior in bears.

A defensive bear will appear “agitated and stressed,” the film’s narrator states.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Not so with a potentially predatory bear."}]

“With its head up and ears erect, its approach is confident and persistent,” the narrator says.

That’s the sort of behavior to watch for, regardless of species, according to the film.

The consensus among bear experts is that large, male black bears are the most likely to be predatory toward humans.

The film recommends acting aggressively toward a predatory bear to discourage it. 

And, if it comes down to it, fighting back.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"‘That Gives Me The Creeps’"}]

Anderson said the behavior of the female brown bear in Lutes’ video reflects what the IBA filmmakers were pointing out.

“That video, when I watched it, provoked some reactions in me because of the bear’s body language,” he said. “The body language is focused. In those circumstances, that bear has some choices to make.

“The bear’s body language suggests, ‘I want to get a closer look at this (human). Because this might be an opportunity. And that gives me the creeps.” 

Anderson said that among all the bear encounters he’s had only one that was possibly predatory, years ago in Yellowstone National Park.

An old, “emaciated” grizzly boldly approached Anderson and his cameraman, looking intensely focused.

That bear, well past its prime, was probably desperate for food, he said.  

Anderson said he charged at the bear, “roaring” and holding his backpack over his head, and the bear fled.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"The incident shook him."}]

“I didn’t sleep for three nights after that,” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Be Prepared, But Not Paranoid"}]

Anderson stressed that he wants people to be mindful in bear country, not irrationally terrified.

That means being prepared because “complacency is what gets you killed in the wild. Period,” he said.

For “a broad swath of the public” that might not be skilled with firearmskram he recommends bear spray, which he said he’s had to use on bears a few times.

And knowledge and a cool head should prevail, Anderson said.

“Time and time again, I see people getting themselves out of situations by using their brains,” he said.

As miniscule as the possibility of running into a predatory bear is, people should run through that scenario and how to handle it in their heads, Anderson said.

“You must at least have it on your mind. And you’d better have your game plan in place, because it’s life or death,” he said.

Mix Collage 14 Aug 2026 06 35 PM 1046

<title>When A Bear Wants To Eat You: Outdoorsman Has Terrifying Predatory Encounter | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Outdoorsman Ryan Lutes had a predatory encounter with a female brown bear earlier this summer. He told Cowboy State Daily that he credits confidence and bold action for coming out alive. "I knew I had to plant my ass, stand firm and not appear weak," he said.

When A Bear Wants To Eat You: Outdoorsman Has Terrifying Predatory Encounter

Politics

RIVERTON- Three Wyoming gubernatorial candidates for the Republican nomination took the debate stage against each other late Thursday, for the last time before next Tuesday’s primary election.

State Sen. and former House Speaker Eric Barlow emphasized pragmatic policy approaches and referenced his nearly 14 years in the Legislature and careers as a rancher and veterinarian.

Retired Marine Corps Col. Brent Bien said he entered this race due to Gov. Mark Gordon’s actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. He voiced enthusiasm, referenced his military career and called for auditing “everything” in state government.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder pointed to her work as the state’s schools chief, and voiced ambitions for Wyoming to lead the nation by litigating, empowering industries at which the state already excels and negotiating strongly with other states. She cast her connection with both President Donald Trump and U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman as an edge that will help Wyoming advance its own agenda.

[{"type":"text","text":"What If We Got Another COVID?"}]

In response to a question about how she’d respond to another COVID-like phenomenon, Degenfelder said Wyoming should never shut down private businesses or schools.

“I spent time living in Communist China,” she said, reflecting on earning her master’s degree at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. “During the COVID pandemic that’s what it started to feel like.”

In an earlier interview this week, Degenfelder compared her time in China to confronting a lion.

Bien said, “I am standing here right now because of the actions the current governor took in 2020.”

[{"type":"text","text":"He said he’d never shut down the state the way Gordon did."}]

“Without our freedom, we have nothing,” said Bien. “I’ve witnessed the end state of tyranny in multiple theaters.”

In 2020 Barlow was, as now, in the state Legislature. He reflected on how difficult it was to get good information as the pandemic unfolded. 

 he championed into law in 2021, limiting state and county public health officers’ authority to shutter the state to 10 days, and shifting that authority to elected officials after that timeframe.

Three Wyoming gubernatorial candidates for the Republican nomination took the debate stage Thursday, for the last time before the primary election. Eric Barlow focused on his experience, Megan Degenfelder on her vision and Brent Bien on righting the government's structure.

Daily Darwin: Thursday, May 23, 2024

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