Editor’s note: This is a developing story and will be updated as more information is available.
Update 2:30 p.m.: This story has been updated with information from the Worland Police Department.
A man is dead and a police officer wounded after a Monday shootout in Worland, the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation reports.
The Worland Police Department also confirmed the fatality in a Tuesday statement, writing that officers were sent to the area under the New River Bridge to investigate a male subject whom the reporting party categorized as under the influence of an unknown substance.
“The name of the 37-year-old male will not be published at this time,” says the statement.
Officers found the man standing outside his vehicle, the department wrote, and he darted into his vehicle once he saw officers approaching, the statement says. He refused to exit the vehicle to discuss all the “personal belongings being scattered about the area” but he eventually complied.
Officers arriving on scene recognized the man from a previous felony property destruction call from earlier that day, the statement says.
The department supervisor told the officers to arrest the man in the felony property destruction case, but when officers tried to do so, the man fought the officers, reportedly.
The man produced a handgun and fired at the four Worland Police Department officers on scene, the statement says. Two returned fire and rendered the man “incapacitated,” and he soon died of his wounds on scene.
One police officer sustained non-life-threatening gunshot injuries and was taken to Washakie Medical Center, where he was treated and later released, adds the statement.
The statement says the two officers who shot have been placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation, as standard operating procedure.
Going Forward …
Wyoming DCI’s officer-involved shooting team has been called to investigate what happened in Worland, and have determined there’s no continuing threat to the community, says a Tuesday statement by DCI.
Wyoming State Crime Lab personnel are also investigating, the statement says.
Wyoming police agencies, as a general rule, call DCI to investigate officer-involved shootings as an outside agency.
DCI compiles an investigative report from scene processing and physical evidence analysis, then refers the case to the county’s top prosecutor or a special prosecutor if the local attorney recuses himself from the case.
Washakie County Attorney Tony Barton told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that he does not know yet whether he’ll ask for a special prosecutor and won’t make that decision until DCI finishes its report.
Washakie County Coroner Jeff Lapp confirmed a male died in a Monday incident, but declined Tuesday morning to identify the man until he could notify next of kin.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
