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

<title>Steve Inman: Wednesday, June 26, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Classic reminder to stop playing in the streets, narrated by MMA announcer Steve Inman.....

Steve Inman: Wednesday, June 26, 2024

 Classic reminder to stop playing in the streets, narrated by MMA announcer Steve Inman.....

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

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

A predawn burglary spree through Lander in April left businesses ransacked, windows smashed and a convenience store clerk with three stab wounds in her back. Now, one of the two people accused in the rampage has agreed to plead guilty to a felony.

Amanda Phillips, 21, signed a plea agreement filed Aug. 12 in Fremont County District Court, resolving her part of a case that began with stolen booze and cigarettes.

[{"type":"text","text":"The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison."}]

In exchange, Fremont County Attorney Micah Wyatt has agreed to dismiss Phillips' two remaining charges — accessory after the fact to aggravated assault and battery and fleeing.

[{"type":"text","text":"No agreement was reached, however, about what her punishment should be."}]

The agreement specifically describes it as a "cold" plea, meaning both prosecutors and Phillips' defense attorney, public defender Zachary H. Mahlum, remain free to argue for whatever sentence they deem appropriate.

Phillips also agrees to pay restitution on all of the original charges, including those prosecutors have agreed to dismiss.

[{"type":"text","text":"Ultimately, the sentence will be up to the judge."}]

Phillips' co-defendant, 18-year-old Lorenzo Hopper, remains charged with attempted first-degree murder and five other crimes. He is scheduled for a jury trial Nov. 16.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Smashed Windows "}]

The incidents began around 3:40 a.m. April 21, when police say Hopper jumped the counter at the Loaf N' Jug on Main Street, grabbed a bottle of alcohol and took off.

The clerk called police and gave officers a description of Hopper, but a search of the area came up empty.

Over the next hour, several Lander businesses were broken into and vandalized, with alcohol, cigarettes, cash and other property reported stolen.

Phillips allegedly drove Hopper to several locations that morning. She later told investigators she was looking at her phone and didn't see what he was doing.

Among the businesses hit was the County 10 radio station, where investigators say an oxygen bottle was used to smash the front-door window. Surveillance video showed Hopper entering the building, where a commemorative Gerber hunting knife was among the items reported stolen.

Police would later find computer screens, oxygen bottles, an oxygen mask and plumbing equipment inside the vehicle Phillips was driving, according an affidavit of probable cause. 

Then, around 4:37 a.m. — nearly an hour after the first call — police were sent back to the Loaf N' Jug.

[{"type":"text","text":"Hopper had returned."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Three Stab Wounds"}]

The affidavit says Hopper went inside the store and confronted clerk Dayle Mefford, who called 911.

Investigators allege he attacked Mefford with a stolen knife, stabbing her three times in the back.

[{"type":"text","text":"Mefford was seriously wounded and was LifeFlighted for treatment."}]

Her daughter, Aiko Miller, later told Cowboy State Daily that strangers who happened upon the violence rushed in to help her mother.

One person used a vehicle to frighten off the attacker as the assault escalated, Miller said. Others tended to Mefford's wounds until emergency medical crews arrived.

[{"type":"text","text":"Miller said her mother believed their intervention saved her life."}]

"We are beyond grateful to the good Samaritan that stepped in and scared that man off and administered wound care," Miller said. "It saved my mom's life."

[{"type":"text","text":"Mefford has since been recovering from her injuries."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Plea Deal"}]

Although Phillips and Hopper were arrested together April 21, the criminal cases against them took different shapes.

An initial Lander Police Department announcement said both were facing attempted-murder charges while investigators were still sorting through what happened.

Once formal charges were filed, however, prosecutors did not charge Phillips with attempted murder.

Instead, she was charged with accessory before the fact to burglary, accessory after the fact to aggravated assault and battery, and fleeing or attempting to elude police.

Hopper faces six charges: Attempted first-degree murder, aggravated burglary, two counts of aggravated assault and battery, interference with a peace officer and theft.

Both pleaded not guilty during separate arraignments May 21 in Fremont County District Court.

[{"type":"text","text":"Phillips is now moving toward resolving her case without a trial."}]

Under the Wednesday agreement, she will plead guilty only to accessory before the fact to burglary. Prosecutors will ask the court to dismiss the other two charges once her guilty plea is entered and accepted.

Because the agreement contains no sentencing recommendation, Phillips could still face a sentence within the range allowed by Wyoming law.

[{"type":"text","text":"Her existing bond will remain in effect while she awaits sentencing."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hopper Headed To Trial"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Hopper's trial in November will be in Fremont County District Court."}]

The attempted first-degree murder charge is by far the most serious allegation against him and could expose him to decades in prison.

Shortly after his preliminary hearing this spring, Hopper wrote a handwritten letter to the judge in which he expressed remorse and said he hoped someday to apologize to Mefford "face to face."

He wrote that he was finished drinking and wanted people to see something in him beyond the crimes he is accused of committing.

Phillips' plea agreement also still must make its way through the court. Filing the agreement does not itself constitute a guilty plea. Phillips must formally enter that plea and the judge must accept it before the agreement takes effect.

Lander loaf jug with police cruiser 8 14 26

<title>Driver In Wild Lander Crime Spree That Ended In Triple Stabbing Takes Plea Deal | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A woman accused of driving during a Lander burglary spree that ended with a Loaf N’ Jug clerk getting stabbed three times pleaded guilty to a felony. She faces up to 10 years, while the man accused of the stabbing is headed to trial for attempted murder.

Driver In Wild Lander Crime Spree That Ended In Triple Stabbing Takes Plea Deal

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Public Lands

The Bureau of Land Management is poised to round up about 1,800 mustangs from herds in central Wyoming, claiming the horses will starve if their numbers aren’t cut. 

“Without active management, herds continue to grow unchecked and can double in size every four to five years. Chronic overpopulation places both horses and rangeland resources at risk,” the BLM said Tuesday in announcing the plans for roundups in the Red Desert Complex.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"The roundups are set to begin in the fall."}]

 “Saving wild horses from starvation, protecting America’s public lands,” the BLM describes the effort.

Wild-horse advocate Carol Walker told Cowboy State Daily she thinks the agency is using hyperbole to justify more roundups. 

“That’s baloney. I’m out there all the time,” Walker said. “I was out there about three weeks ago, and I didn’t see a single skinny horse.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Target Numbers"}]

Mustang management goes beyond just the horses, mule deer conservationist Bill Ames told Cowboy State Daily. 

He said he didn’t know enough about the Red Desert Complex to say how many horses should be there, but he thinks they're “overpopulated” throughout the state. 

And that can lead to competition with mule deer, pronghorn, and other wildlife, Ames said. 

“I don’t know if they compete for food so much, but they really compete for water,” said Ames, who represents the Wyoming Mule Deer Alliance. 

The roundups are planned in several horse management areas (HMAs) in the Red Desert Complex, including the Antelope Hills, Crooks Mountain, Green Mountain, Lost Creek, and Stewart Creek. 

The appropriate management level for the complex is 480 to 720 horses, meaning about 1,800 horses must be removed to “return herd sizes to sustainable levels,” according to the BLM.

The BLM also plans to use fertility control to trim Red Desert herds. 

“During gather operations, staff plan to treat around 75 to 150 mares with fertility control and release them back to the range,” the announcement said.  

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Ongoing Debate"}]

What's sustainable for the mustang population is a matter of debate. 

The BLM was given jurisdiction over mustangs under the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act. 

The agency contends that it’s managing mustang numbers according to the parameters established by the act, based on such factors as available forage for horses, conflicts with private landowners, and competition with wildlife. 

Wild-horse advocates argue that the BLM’s target numbers are a fraction of what the range can support and that the horses are scapegoats for overgrazing by sheep and cattle. 

They contend mustangs qualify as wildlife and should be respected and conserved as such. 

Others argue the horses are a feral, invasive species with no natural predators. They can damage the landscape and drive out native wildlife if their numbers go unchecked. 

After horses are rounded up, they’re sent to BLM holding facilities, such as those near Wheatland and Rock Springs. 

Many of the horses are put up for adoption, while others live out their lives in BLM facilities. 

Mustang advocates recently claimed to have evidence the BLM is also funneling some of the mustangs toward dealers who 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"The BLM denies it. "}]

Nature already culled the central Wyoming mustang herds, Walker said. 

The brutal winter of 2022-2023 killed tens of thousands of pronghorn, deer, and elk in central and south-central Wyoming. 

An official tally of how many mustangs died wasn

t kept. Walker said she thinks the Red Desert Complex herds were cut by about half. 

So, it makes no sense to start a huge roundup of the herds, which are still recovering, she said. 

According to what she’s seen on the ground, the rangelands are healthy and there’s plenty of forage to go around for horses, livestock, and wildlife. 

“I see elk out there, I see pronghorn out there, and I see the little wildlife, like bunnies,” she said. 

The horses and other animals looked well-fed and healthy, she added. 

The Bureau of Land Management plans to round up about 1,800 mustangs in the Red Desert Complex of central Wyoming this fall, claiming that overpopulated horses are at risk for starvation. “That’s baloney," says wild-horse advocate Carol Walker.

Steve Inman: Wednesday, June 26, 2024

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