CHEYENNE — Darrell Ridge heard something that didn’t sound quite right to him at the Bighorn Motel on Friday afternoon.
He left his room and went into the hallway to find out what was up, and next thing he knew there were sirens going off as a dozen police cars converged on the scene.
Seconds later, a SWAT team was telling him to hit the exit — in just his socks.
“I didn’t even have any shoes on,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “The cop says, ‘You go,’ and I went.”
He landed at the neighboring Loaf N' Jug along with close to a dozen other people who, like Ridge, were suddenly evacuated from the motel after initial reports that there had been an assault of some kind, or disturbance.
That turned out to be a shooting, according to Cheyenne Police Department spokeswoman Alexandra Farkas.
The victim is an unidentified male, who was taken to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center.
“It’s very early right now,” Farkas said. “But their condition is, I would say serious condition. I don’t have further details right now.”
A search for the shooter ended with the suspect barricaded in a hotel room and a four-hour standoff with Cheyenne police.
Eyewitness Account
Carlos Torres serves as both security and maintenance manager for the Bighorn Motel. He was among those stranded at the Loaf N' Jug.
He has access to 24/7 security camera video of the motel and told Cowboy State Daily he watched the shooting happen not long after law enforcement showed up at the motel.
The person who was shot is a transient who Torres knows as Earl, Torres said, a man who frequently visits people he knows at the Bighorn Motel.
Earl, Torres said, isn’t a bad person, but sometimes drinks a bit and, when he does, can be a little “belligerent.”
“He’ll come in to warm up every now and then,” Ridge added. “I mean, he’s a good guy, but he likes to drink. And he does get belligerent.”
Earl had borrowed some money from the man taken into custody on suspicion of shooting Earl, Torres said. Earl was visiting people he knew at the motel, including the man who is accused of shooting Earl.
“You can see it (on the video),” Torres said. “Earl knocks on (the shooter’s) door. You can see that he goes in the door and then he’s standing at the door, the screen door here.
"Then he comes out and he goes back in. He comes out and flips (the shooter) the bird, and then he goes back in. And that’s when you hear the gunshot.”
After that, Torres said the video shows the man accused of shooting Earl picking the shot man up off the stairway and throwing him outside.
34 Units On Scene
Once it became clear that the assault had been a shooting, an all-call went out, bringing in more personnel from both the Cheyenne Police Department and Laramie County Sheriff’s Department.
“Right now, we have officials from our SWAT Team,” Farkas said about a half hour before the suspect was taken into custody. “It’s a joint SWAT team shared with Laramie County Sheriff’s Office.
"We have crisis communicators who are working to call the individual and speak to him, and then our bomb squad is also on the scene.”
The bomb squad was on hand in case officers needed to breach the door.
Thirty-four units in all were dispatched to the scene, Farkas said. Those were vehicles, not personnel, however. There were far more people on the scene.
Those responders included at least one FBI agent who had volunteered assistance.
“I think they have a bomb team that they have offered to help,” Farkas said.
The nearby Alta Vista Elementary School, meanwhile, was put into a secure perimeter until the identity and location of the man accused of being the shooter could be located.
The secure perimeter was lifted as soon as it was determined the suspect was still in his motel room.
“Crisis negotiators did speak with the individual briefly,” Farkas said before the incident came to a conclusion. “But they lost connection. So now we’re in a holding pattern, waiting on a warrant to be able to make entry.”
Residents were advised to remain clear of the area throughout the incident.
By 6:11 p.m., a warrant had been obtained, and the motel room was breached.
A male suspect was taken into custody “without incident,” according to the CPD.
Bighorn Motel Trying To ‘Clean Things Up'
Most of the people evacuated from the Bighorn Motel told Cowboy State Daily they did not hear a shot.
Elizabeth, the cashier at the nearby Loaf N' Jug, said she did not hear a shot either. Her first indication that anything had happened were sirens and police showing up by the dozen to converge on the motel.
Not long after, people from the motel showed up at the convenience store. A manager told Elizabeth she could feed them all and offer beverages like coffee or fountain soda for free.
It was a very welcome gesture, Torres and the other refugees agreed, particularly to those who had arrived with only the clothes on their back and, in some cases, no shoes on their feet — much less a credit card or money to buy anything with.
Elizabeth added it was the first time anything like this has happened in a while at the Bighorn Motel.
While the motel has been a trouble hotspot in the past, new owners have made a concerted effort to “clean up the place,” both Torres and Ridge said.
“This is one of the biggest things that’s happened since probably a month,” Torres said. “It’s sad, too, because (the shooter) is really a good guy."
Earl is not a bad man, both Ridge and Torres said, even if sometimes prone to saying things he shouldn’t.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
