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[{"type":"text","text":"Here's a novelty. A baby announcement without anything blowing up...."}]

Bonus vid 1 9 28 25

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

<title>Bonus Video 1: Sunday, September 28, 2025 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Here's a novelty. A baby announcement without anything blowing up....

Bonus Video 1: Sunday, September 28, 2025

 Here's a novelty. A baby announcement without anything blowing up....

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

Greg Johnson

Crime & Courts

Public Safety

BAGGS — Waking up in this usually sleepy town of 411 people Tuesday morning, you wouldn’t know that only eight hours earlier it was the scene of a major multi-state response to an active shooter that ended with a Carbon County Sheriff’s Office deputy shot multiple times and a dead suspect.

As late as 10 p.m. Monday, the initial crime scene ­— a nondescript off-yellow, two-story apartment building — was surrounded by dozens of law enforcement vehicles and crime-scene tape a stone’s throw from southbound Wyoming Highway 789.

Along with the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office, the Wyoming Highway Patrol, Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office, Rawlins Police Department and at least a half-dozen other agencies from Wyoming and northern Colorado had responded.

[{"type":"text","text":"By 6 a.m. Tuesday, it was business as usual around Baggs — almost."}]

Folks were up early and in their heavy-duty trucks on their way to job sites, the pickups dusty in a way that says they work as hard as their drivers.

They did their usual rounds, stopping for breakfast, coffee, and a little gossip to start the day.

On Tuesday, there was little gossip as conversations were dominated by Monday’s deadly incident.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘It’s Just What We Do’"}]

Now in her 80s, Linda Fleming grew up in Baggs and has lived her life teaching generations of local kids, along with serving a stint as the town’s mayor in the 1980s.

She called Monday’s deadly shootout “something tragic” that also highlights the hero spirit of first responders, along with the neighbors who helped the deputy after being shot multiple times until an ambulance could arrive.

“The most immediate (heroes) were the neighbors who rallied for that deputy,” she told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday morning.

Inquiries to the Carbon County Sheriff’s and coroner’s offices for more information about Monday’s shooting were not returned by the time this story was published. That includes the condition of the deputy and the identification and cause of death of the suspected shooter.

Fleming said she’s not surprised regular people reportedly sprang into action to help the deputy, along with local EMS that was at the scene quickly.

“It’s just what we do,” she said. “We don’t have any local police, so people help and don’t give it a second thought.”

She also said that while violent episodes like Monday’s have become rare for Baggs, that wasn’t always the case.

“I was mayor in the ’80s when we had a pretty serious drug problem at that time,” Fleming said. “But we didn’t have anything like the shooting of a police officer.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Usual Suspects"}]

At the Stage Stop General Store, the usual suspects were in their usual places, sipping coffee from the four stools at the front of the store by the checkout counter.

Like clockwork, as one of the “old geezers” — as one described the group — got up and left, another filtered in to take the empty stool.

The usual gossip was replaced Tuesday with talk about the shooting, the manhunt for the suspect, and then the ultimate ending with a deputy flown to a Colorado hospital with multiple gunshot wounds and a dead suspect.

“I’m reading about it right now on Cowboy State Daily,” said the local on the far end, holding up his phone.

They’re all talkers, until asked their names. “Oh, gee, I guess I forgot it,” one silver-haired coffee drinker quipped, making them all laugh.

What they weren’t vague about was their shock over what happened, and the resulting hourslong shelter-in-place order that shut down the town.

It was the same at the Cowboy Inn Restaurant, where server Brett Ferrier said a full dining room of customers was not allowed to leave.

She also echoed Fleming’s sentiment that she’s not surprised the deputy may owe his life to those fast-acting neighbors.

“This is the best place I’ve lived,” said Ferrier, adding that she moved to the area just last September. “These are real neighbors, they have your back and they’re so welcoming.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Little We Know"}]

Nearly 24 hours after local residents were notified via text message of an “active assailant in Baggs area. Please shelter in place,” there’s still little information about a possible motive for the shooting and the condition of the deputy.

In a late-night report Monday, Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken confirmed that “the suspect opened fire on the initial responding deputy, striking him several times.”

The suspect then “fled the scene in a small truck,” the report says. “Additional responding deputies and troopers with the Wyoming Highway Patrol engaged in a pursuit with the suspect vehicle on Highway 789 north of Baggs.”

During the pursuit, the suspect again “opened fire on law enforcement … before driving off the highway and coming to a stop.”

The report then says that the suspect “was declared deceased at the scene,” but it’s not clear how the suspect died or if anything happened between the time the vehicle came to a stop and the suspect was declared dead.

“Please keep our injured deputy and their family in your thoughts and prayers,” the report ends.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Blue Wall"}]

Law enforcement agencies around Wyoming are doing just that, posting messages of support and sympathy for the injured Carbon County deputy and the sheriff’s office. A sampling of those:

 “Please keep all the first responders in Carbon County in your prayers and specifically for the deputy who was shot yesterday in Baggs.”

 “The Wyoming law enforcement community is a small one and today our hearts are with the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office.”

 “Our thoughts and prayers remain with the injured deputy, they’re loved ones, and the entire Carbon County Sheriff’s Office following yesterday’s tragic incident.

“Moments like these are a stark reminder of the dangers law enforcement officers face in service to their communities. We ask everyone to keep the deputy, their family, and all those affected in their thoughts during this incredibly difficult time.”

Closer to home, Baggs residents like Fleming and Ferrier are shocked, but not disheartened by Monday’s violence.

“Our little community of Little Snake River was put into lockdown cause of an active shooter,” posted Stacy Overton to Facebook. “Our community is shaken (by) the recent events of today.”

Meanwhile, what looked like a scene from an action movie set most of the day and night Monday appeared virtually normal by Tuesday morning.

Gone was the small fleet of law enforcement vehicles representing multiple jurisdictions, along with the fire engines and crime scene tape.

At least most of it, with one string of yellow tape still visible at the property. The small army that had responded the day before was reduced to one Carbon County deputy standing at the perimeter of the scene.

At the Cowboy Inn, Ferrier was too busy Tuesday to think much about the previous day’s excitement. The lunch rush was coming.

This is a developing story that will be updated as more information on Monday’s active shooter incident is available from authorities.

Baggs green sign inset

<title>Deadly Shootout In Baggs, Wyoming: Neighbors Helped Deputy After Shot By Suspect | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The day after a gunfight that left a deputy shot and the suspect dead in Baggs, Wyoming, former mayor Linda Fleming said it's no surprise neighbors rushed to help the fallen deputy. “It's just what we do. People don’t give it a second thought," she said.

Deadly Shootout In Baggs, Wyoming: Neighbors Helped Deputy After Shot By Suspect

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

Wyoming Life

After a string of 90-plus-degree days in early June, the last thing you’d expect to see in Wyoming’s forecast is a chance of snow.

Nevertheless, there’s a good chance of rain and snow showers in Yellowstone National Park between Tuesday night and Wednesday. Daytime highs on Wednesday will be in the high 40s at Old Faithful.

“The peaks will get glistened up with a little bit of white when the heaviest part of the storm comes through over the next 24 hours,” said Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day.

Over the next two weeks, temperatures could drop between 15 and 20 degrees below average, or even lower. Day called it "an interesting pattern" that’ll put a dent in the sunny start of summer.

“This is just the continued weirdness that we've had since November,” he said. “It's summer's trying to start, but it just can't get going yet.”

The source of this unseasonable summer weather is what Day and other meteorologists are calling “a cold trough.” It’s part of the natural ebb and flow of ongoing weather systems.

“We had an upper-level ridge and high pressure overhead last weekend, which helped have those hot 90-degree temperatures,” said meteorologist Molly Gerhardt with the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Riverton. “This kind of pattern shift will have a trough, generally the opposite of a ridge, that will help keep temperatures on the cooler side.”

The cold trough will move from west to east over the next few days. Gerhardt anticipates the system will bring cooler temperatures and “some helpful moisture,” but not a lot of it.

“There isn’t an impressive amount of moisture with this system, but it is going to drop some rain, and perhaps some snow in those higher elevations of the Tetons and Wind River Mountains.”

Day agreed that there won’t be much moisture in his system, but the shift is significant. In his words, “the cool is coming.”

“This system is blowing up every seasonal forecast for June,” he said. “Whatever you’ve heard or seen about what’s happening in June, just scratch it.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Unseasonable Start To Summer"}]

Wyoming’s temperature will be on a bit of a roller coaster for the next week.

After Wednesday’s high-elevation snow, Wyoming will jump back into more summer-like temperatures.

“This cold front will drop temperatures 5 to 10 degrees below normal, but that won't last too long,” Gerhardt said. “We'll get back near to even above normal temperatures, 5 to 10 degrees above normal, by Friday.

By the end of the weekend, temperatures will dramatically shift again in the opposite direction. Day called them “remarkably cool” for mid-June.

“I'm looking at temperature anomalies as much as 20 degrees or more by Sunday and Monday,” he said. “That means take 20 degrees off what the average high is, so you could have daytime temperatures in the 40s and low 50s in Yellowstone.”

The NWS anticipates daytime highs in the 70s for the rest of Wyoming on Sunday and Monday.

That pattern could continue through the week. Gerhardt said the guidance being monitored by the NWS indicates “a pattern shift” toward cooler temperatures.

“Some outlooks are trending toward below normal temperatures, especially for the eastern half of the state, with maybe a slight uptick in precipitation,” she said. “That would be anywhere from the 60s to low 70s, which is generally below normal for this time of year.”

Day wanted Wyomingites to understand how baffling the next week will be across the state. It’ll be a constant back-and-forth that’s decidedly not summerlike.

We have this cool front coming through the next couple of days,” Day said. “There’s going to be a brief warm-up Friday and Saturday, then temperatures reverse and go right back down again starting Saturday night into Sunday, and then the coolness persists for most of next week. It’s blowing up the long-range forecast.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Delayed Reaction"}]

What stood out to Day about the short-range forecast was how it didn’t look like June. If anything, it looks like what May should have been.

While May brought much-needed precipitation to portions of Wyoming, the entire month was 

 for most of the state. The next week’s weather looks more like May than May did.

“Our weather’s behaving like it’s three or four weeks out of sync,” he said. “What we saw in parts of May was really what we should have but didn’t get in March and April, and now June is showing signs of what sometimes happens in May.”

The real question is whether that pattern will persist. Will July be more June-like?

Both Day and Gerhardt said it’s too early to say. Extended forecasts indicate a return to form with hotter, drier days by the end of June, but those same extended forecasts have been consistently wrong since November.

“From the NWS’s Weather and Climate Prediction Center, it looks like things will be trending back into those near-summer temperatures that we typically feel, if not above normal, by the end of June into early July,” Gerhardt said. “We’ll see how things pan out over the next couple of weeks.”

Day cautioned outdoor enthusiasts of all stripes to prepare themselves. Most people are prepared for overnight chills or a day of below-average temperatures, but the next two weeks will be beyond that.

“What's striking is that this will be multiple days of cooler weather,” he said. “We'll rebound by the end of the month, but we're definitely hitting a cool patch. If you're doing outdoor stuff, you need to be prepared for cool, wet weather in the middle of June.”

Snow yellowstone 6 9 26

<title>Merry Christmas! Yellowstone To Get June Snowstorm As Cold Front Dips Into Wyoming | Cowboy State Daily</title>

After a string of 90+ degree days, snow is heading for Yellowstone National Park on Wednesday. Meteorologist Don Day says all of Wyoming should expect cooler than usual weather in the next two weeks. “This is just continued weirdness,” Day said.

Merry Christmas! Yellowstone To Get June Snowstorm As Cold Front Dips Into Wyoming

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

Clair McFarland

Before the Carbon County emergency services scanner went dark at around 3:30 p.m. Monday, the dispatchers, officers, deputies and troopers on it described an 

 and manhunt in which at least one law enforcement officer was injured and a Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper’s car was “shot up.”

The saga ended with scanner reports saying the fleeing truck had come to a stop, and one person was dead inside it. 

Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken announced via press release late Monday evening that the shooter died on scene. 

"The subject opened fire on the initial responding deputy, striking him several times," the statement reads.

"The suspect fled the scene in a small truck.  Additional responding deputies and troopers with the Wyoming Highway Patrol engaged in a pursuit with the suspect vehicle on Highway 789 north of Baggs. 

"The suspect opened fire on law enforcement again before driving off the highway and coming to a stop. The suspect was declared deceased at the scene. 

"The wounded deputy was transported to a medical facility in Colorado by Intermountain Air Ambulance."

[{"type":"text","text":"How It Unfolded"}]

The public learned of the incident when Carbon County emergency services called for a shelter in place due to an active shooter situation around 1 p.m. 

Scanner traffic erupted at about that time, when a female dispatcher informed units that a “lady” had called to report a man emerged from a home near or about 49 West Cedar Street, Baggs. That's across the road from the mayor's home. 

The man "came out of the house with a long gun, fired a shot, and now he’s walking around trying to get into an apartment,” the female dispatcher related from the caller’s report. “RP (reporting party) says he has tactical equipment on.”

The male had red hair, a mustache, no shirt, and green camo pants, the dispatcher related. She’d later add from a secondhand description that he had a fanny pack containing ammunition.

A Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper who called himself “132” said he was on his way.

“He’s gone into apartment number one, and now he came out and he’s heading back upstairs,” the dispatcher narrated.

[{"type":"text","text":"The man still had a gun, she added."}]

“He’s getting into a small black truck at this time,” said the dispatcher. Male officers, troopers or deputies pressed the dispatcher for a better description of the truck, and after several minutes personnel said it was reportedly a Toyota Tacoma.

The man headed north through Baggs. The caller didn’t know his name or who he was, the dispatcher said.

One male law enforcement officer said one of the officers was stopping the vehicle.

“Subject is now shooting at the patrol vehicle,” said a male voice on the scanner.

Personnel called in night shift deputies or troopers. They asked for help from Moffat County Colorado, which reportedly later sent two drones along with other help. They asked for a special response team from the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office.

“It appears one of the apartments is on fire,” said the dispatcher at about 1:18 p.m. Eyewitnesses in Baggs said the fire was related to the shooting and chase. 

Traffic indicated at some point the fleeing black truck turned back south. 

The town clerk told personnel, reportedly, that shooting sounds resounded “up on the hill south of Baggs,” said a male officer.

One man asked if law enforcement personnel had heard from a deputy called “66.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“That is negative,” answered the dispatcher."}]

Later someone on the scanner said that residents of the area were “applying aid to 66” and that “66 is down,” while the suspect had fled northward in the black Tacoma.

The sheriff’s evening statement says the suspect opened fire and struck the deputy several times. The deputy was flown to care in Colorado. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Multiple parties on the scanner coordinated medical personnel responses."}]

At 1:29 p.m. a male trooper or other officer shouted, “Shots fired! Shots fired! He’s shooting at – “

[{"type":"text","text":"“He’s right there,” an agent added after a brief silence. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"What Trooper 132 Saw"}]

Around this time the scene was unfolding around mile marker 40 on Highway 789.

[{"type":"text","text":"“Shots fired!” said a male voice again."}]

“He hit my windshield,” said a male voice that sounded like the trooper called 132. “Getting water, he hit my tire.”

But 132 wasn’t done with the incident. He asked a deputy called “64” to pick him up and take him to the next part of the incident so he could keep helping.

A deputy called “68” reported, while catching his breath audibly, that personnel had a “barricaded suspect” just off a two-track or county road, headed west, but that by then, “we have no movement.”

The dispatcher said a special response team had been “activated.” That was about 1:40 p.m.

[{"type":"text","text":"Agents coordinated shutting the highway down."}]

“Sounds like he’s barricaded in the vehicle,” said a male. “I know he shot at 132.”

One agent asked if he should bring an “OIS Bag,” or officer-involved shooting kit.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I don’t know if 132 fired a round or not,” answered the male."}]

The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation confirmed via email to Cowboy State Daily that it was asked Monday afternoon to respond to an officer-involved shooting south of Baggs.

At least one agent requested a “Bear Cat” armored vehicle. It’s unclear where that vehicle was coming from: agents mentioned both Sweetwater County and Casper.

Meanwhile, a “potential structure fire and chemical situation” reportedly progressed on Cedar Street.

[{"type":"text","text":"A propane leak “appears to be there on purpose,” said a dispatcher."}]

The suspect’s vehicle was stationary. Agents weren’t sure if the suspect was still in the vehicle. The final shot was fired at about 1:08, an officer said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Someone called for a bomb squad. "}]

Cowboy State Daily asked the Carbon County Fire District to confirm whether, as scanner traffic indicated, propane tanks had exploded, and the department said it could not confirm.

The trooper known as 132 asked someone to shoot several photographs of his vehicle for the investigation.

“You can’t miss it, it’s a highway patrol car on the side of the road that’s shot up,” said 132.  

Officers wondered aloud if the suspect had fled on foot or was still in the vehicle. Multiple drones were on the way to confirm.

“One occupant deceased,” said an officer, adding a directive to notify the coroner. 

Bakken confirmed late in the evening that the shooter was dead on scene. It’s unclear how he died.

The Sweetwater County bomb squad responded to the apartment complex around 6:45 p.m. 

The Carbon County Sheriff's Office lifted its shelter in place notification for the town of Baggs at 7:48 p.m. - nearly seven hours after implementing it. 

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I Passed 17 Emergency Vehicles\""}]

Cory Overton, a Baggs resident, said he was headed home from his work in the Craig area when a Steamboat Springs, Colorado-based SWAT team passed him on the highway, also headed toward Baggs.

[{"type":"text","text":"He also saw a medical helicopter leaving the town, Overton said."}]

“I passed 17 emergency vehicles before I hit Craig,” he added. Overton said he and his son jumped into the car and headed north, then he took photographs of the aftermath of the incident.

One of the photographs Overton took shows a Carbon County Sheriff’s deputy vehicle with the window seemingly open.

It appeared to be shot by bullets, Overton said, adding that the deputy is a “local guy” known to the community.

Overton said he doesn’t know the shooter. Many people who work in Craig live in Baggs due to cheaper housing costs, he added.

Overton said he’s not sure if the apartment fire is related to the shooting incident. But when law enforcement personnel refer to “the apartment complex,” he said, only one comes to mind.

“That’s really the only apartments we have,” said Overton. That is, except for an old motel used for rent just north of town, he added.

Baggs standoff 6 8 26

<title>Deadly Shooting In Baggs, Wyoming: Deputy Injured, Shooter Dead | Cowboy State Daily</title>

An active shooter manhunt unfolded Monday in Baggs where one deputy was injured and the shooter died on scene, Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken confirmed late Monday. The sheriff said the suspect opened fire on law enforcement before driving off a highway.

Deadly Shooting In Baggs, Wyoming: Deputy Injured, Shooter Dead

It’s the summer season in Yellowstone National Park, which means it’s open season for brazen bunglers to try their luck with bison.

Les Vandever of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, was in Yellowstone last month when he stopped near Floating Island Lake in northern Yellowstone to see if he could spot any bears. As he sat watching, a herd of bison ambled over and started crossing the road.

[{"type":"text","text":"That’s when Vandever saw an incident of “unbelievable stupidity.”"}]

“A kid got out of the back passenger side of a vehicle and took off running towards the bison,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “I don’t know if he was trying to spook them off or if he was just doing something stupid.” 

When the individual charged towards the bison, the herd picked up its pace and finished crossing the road. After that, the man got back into the vehicle, and it drove off.

Not before Vandever got clear photographs of the individual’s face and the vehicle’s license plate, which he’s since shared with a Yellowstone ranger.

[{"type":"text","text":"“We were sitting in our car, just dumbfounded,” he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"It’s Stupid Season"}]

Whenever anyone enters Yellowstone, they receive a map and a flyer reminding them to keep at least 25 yards between themselves and the park’s bison, elk, and other animals. That’s never stopped people from trying their luck, at their peril.

A video circulating on social media appears to show a woman in the Upper Geyser Basin, near Old Faithful, 

 on the head. Even after the incredibly patient bison tries to brush the woman off, she continues to press her luck and pet the massive animal.

Another video shows a woman in a flowing, ankle-length dress running across the road after getting much too close to a bothered bison. As she flees, she 

Vandever said the individual he witnessed was lucky. Approaching one adult bison can be fatal, let alone a herd of them.

“They weren’t even blocking or standing in the road,” he said. “Even if they do, you ease up towards them in your car, go slow and steady, and they will move. That's what the rangers want people to do.”

It’s possible that the individual was trying to demonstrate his abilities as a wide receiver, if the Ohio State Buckeyes shirt he was wearing is any indication.

Regardless, Vandever was keen to get whatever information he could to the Yellowstone rangers.

“I believe there were four people in that vehicle,” he said. “I don’t know if there were any more than him being that stupid.”

So far, there haven’t been any reported bison gorings in Yellowstone this year. That’s a bit unusual, as there’s usually at least one before June.

 occurred in early May. A 47-year-old man from Cape Coral, Florida, was gored by a bison near Lake Village after approaching it too closely.

A month later, a 30-year-old New Jersey man was 

, the busiest area in Yellowstone. Park officials said the man was in a group of visitors that got too close to the bison when it suddenly charged at them.

Meanwhile, a 70-year-old woman from Canada was 

 in South Dakota’s Custer State Park last month. It was the park’s first bison fatality in over 20 years.

According to Custer County Sheriff Marty Mechaley, the woman was following a group of bull bison when one of them charged and threw her 6 feet into the air. When her husband tried to approach and save her, the bison charged again and tossed her 20 feet into the air.

There hasn’t been a bison-related fatality in Yellowstone since 1983, but not for lack of trying. Between 1995 and 2012, there was an average of zero to human-bison incidents resulting in serious injury every year, according to Lee Whittlesey’s book “Death in Yellowstone.”

Many people either aren’t aware that a bison’s strength and temperament are enough to kill them, or they simply don’t care. Regardless, they’re putting themselves at serious risk when they get too close.

“We see about two or three (bison attack victims) a year,” Cody Regional Health’s Dr. Kirk Bollinger told Cowboy State Daily 

. “The big thing is the internal bleeding or massive bruising on the lungs when they stomp on you.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Banned And Fined"}]

Oklahoma resident Les Vandever said he is still stunned after seeing a man charging into a herd of bison in Yellowstone. "It was a moment of unbelievable stupidity," he said. “We were sitting in our car, just dumbfounded."

Bonus Video 1: Sunday, September 28, 2025

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