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.
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.
‘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.”
It was hard to tell Tuesday morning that just eight hours earlier, this apartment building was a major crime scene. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily) 
The scene of a shooting in Baggs on Monday. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily) 
The Sweetwater County Bomb Squad arrives at the scene of a shooting incident in Baggs on Monday, June 8, 2026. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily)
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.”
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.
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:
Uinta County Fire and Ambulance: “Please keep all the first responders in Carbon County in your prayers and specifically for the deputy who was shot yesterday in Baggs.”
Natrona County Sheriff’s Office: “The Wyoming law enforcement community is a small one and today our hearts are with the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office.”
Albany 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.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
