Tag archive

Green River

Police: Green River Double Murder Suspect Dead Of Self-Inflicted Gunshot

Published on in News/Crime
Courtesy, Lynne Sharrock.
21380

***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***

By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

A Green River man sought in connection with two killings in a Green River bar fatally shot himself on Friday as police were attempting to take him into custody, Sweetwater County Sheriff’s officials announced.

Police said Friday that Douglas Wolf, 51, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound as law enforcement tried to apprehend him at an occupied industrial building in Rock Springs.

Authorities had been trying to find Wolf since an incident that left two people dead and one wounded at the Embassy Tavern on Thursday night. Rock Springs police and Sweetwater County Sheriff’s deputies found him early Friday in the building in northern Rock Springs with a firearm pressed to his head. As officers tried to take Wolf into custody, he shot himself.

Police attempted life-saving measures and took Wolf into custody. He was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead around 11 a.m. Friday.

During the standoff, residents of the area were told to remain in their homes.

Texas resident Lynne Sharrock, who is visiting Rock Springs, had earlier told Cowboy State Daily on Friday that she and her family had been confined to their home Friday morning, which sits in the area where Wolf took refuge.

“We know that he is in this shop building…they haven’t heard a gunshot, so they do not know if he’s dead or alive,” Sharrock said. “He threatened there would be a shootout, apparently, if he came out. I think they are waiting it out, it’s been hours and those of us close by are now [allowed] to come out of the house until further notice.”

Credit: Lynne Sharrock

After the standoff ended, Sharrock said she saw authorities leave the area with Wolf.

Sharrock said she and her family began hearing noises in the area at around 3 a.m.

She said she was not necessarily worried about Wolf breaking loose from the building, but was concerned about being struck by a stray bullet should a shootout occur.

“I’m assuming that’s why they won’t let us go outside,” she said. “I’m not [worried] with all the law enforcement and everyone in this house is a hunter.”

Sharrock said there was a command center established at the local fairgrounds for law enforcement and emergency services.

The Green River Police Department announced on Friday that multiple law enforcement agencies in Sweetwater County were investigating the double homicide at the Embassy Tavern.

According to Green River Police Chief Thomas Jarvie, Green River police were called to the an area near the tavern on Thursday night when a reporting party told dispatchers a person had pointed a pistol at them.

As officers were responding to the call, another came in reporting an active shooter at the bar.

Officers arrived on scene to find two people dead and one wounded. The wounded person was taken to the Green River hospital, but the person’s condition was not disclosed.

***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***

You might be interested in

Instagram Poll: Intergalactic Spaceport Is Wyoming’s Worst Attraction

Published on in News
5913

***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***

By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

A recent poll on Instagram declared the worst attraction in every state and Green River’s Intergalactic Spaceport is considered Wyoming’s most infamous.

Artist Matt Shirley creates fun charts on his Instagram and Patreon accounts. Last week, he asked his nearly 400,000 Instagram followers what the worst attraction was in every state.

In addition to voting the Intergalactic Spaceport as Wyoming’s worst attraction, Shirley’s followers declared the Alamo as Texas’ worst, Casa Bonita as Colorado’s worst and Disney as Florida’s worst, apparently because they hate fun.

“I took the most popular answers and slapped them on a map so don’t blame me,” Shirley wrote on the post.

The “spaceport” is a dirt landing strip in the northern part of Green River created in response to 1994 NASA reports that Jupiter was in danger of being hit by some comet fragments. The impacts were of interest to the scientific community, but was considered mostly academic, since Jupiter isn’t considered to harbor intelligent life.

However, the city planners of Green River decided to officially rename the 5,000-ft. landing strip to the “Greater Green River Intergalactic Spaceport” to give refugees from Jupiter a sanctuary.

Some residents opposed this change, noting an existing housing shortage and the significant lack of aliens in the area. But the spaceport was made official, getting approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.

By Monday morning, Shirley’s Instagram post had racked up nearly 24,000 likes.

***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***

You might be interested in

Dope Slime Whiteaker bros
Mark Whiteaker (left) stretches some bead slime that he and his brother Joe Whiteaker (back), both of Cheyenne, make and manufacture through their business called Dope Slimes. (Photo by Becky Orr, Cowboy State Daily)

Cheyenne brothers see success with slime

Slime is sublime for Cheyenne brothers Mark and Joe Whiteaker.

Wyoming Spaceport celebration
Three boys check out the interior of one of the planes that flew to the Greater Green River Intergalactic Spaceport during the 2018 Spaceport Days festival. (Photo courtesy of the City of Green River)

A salute to aviation at Wyoming’s only Spaceport

A celebration of air travel at a Wyoming airport named with an eye to the future is in the cards

A salute to aviation at Wyoming’s only Spaceport

Published on in Travel/Transportation/Tourism
Wyoming Spaceport celebration
Three boys check out the interior of one of the planes that flew to the Greater Green River Intergalactic Spaceport during the 2018 Spaceport Days festival. (Photo courtesy of the City of Green River)
1839

A celebration of air travel at a Wyoming airport named with an eye to the future is in the cards this weekend.

Green River’s annual Spaceport Days, staged at the Greater Green River Intergalactic Spaceport, will be held Friday and Saturday and will feature a magic performance, outdoor screening of a “Star Wars” movie and a demonstration of the Aviat “Husky” airplane, made in Afton.

The Intergalactic Spaceport is a public use airstrip about five miles south of Green River that was renamed a spaceport in 1994.

According to published reports, the rural airport was renamed by Green River City Council members to convey “an offer of sanctuary to the possible residents of the planet of Jupiter” threatened at the time by pieces of a comet headed for the planet.

The airport is used by local pilots and pilots of small planes, said Amanda Cavaz, Green River’s communications administrator.

“We have people who come in and land, then they come in to explore,” she said. “We’ve had some people who land there to make sure everything is OK on their aircraft. It’s a great airport for anybody who is coming in to do recreation here in Green River.”

Green River Spaceport Days
Crowds check out the helicopters and airplanes on display at the 2018 Spaceport Days at the Greater Green River Intergalactic Spaceport. (Photo courtesy of the City of Green River)

Spaceport Days was organized as a way to celebrate aviation and local aviators, Cavaz said.

“And it’s to invite aviators from our region to come in and see our operation and share a breakfast,” she said.

Activities begin at 7 p.m. Friday with a performance by a magician, followed at 9 p.m. by the showing of a “Star Wars” movie and Star Wars costume contest.

Fire pits can be found throughout the area, allowing attendees to light campfires while watching the movie.

Greater Green River Intergalactic Spaceport
A young attendee at the 2018 Spaceport Days festival takes a look around the inside of a helicopter during the event held at the Greater Green River Intergalactic Spaceport. (Photo courtesy of the City of Green River)

“It’s really a fun, family-friendly type event,” Cavaz said. “People bring trucks and camp chairs and set up their camp chairs and watch a movie outdoors.”

On Saturday, a pancake breakfast will start the day at 8 a.m. The cost is $7 per person, but pilots who fly into the area will eat for free, Cavaz said.

“Most pilots like to fly early in colder air, so they land, taxi off the runway, park the aircraft and have breakfast on us,” she said. “Members of the public then have a chance to come in and look at all the different types of planes.”

In past years, pilots have flown to Green River from areas of Wyoming including Laramie, Afton and Pinedale, she said.

After breakfast, a UH-60 “Blackhawk” helicopter and an “Airmed” rescue helicopter will be on display, while the “Husky” airplane created by Afton’s Aviat will put on an aerobatics demonstration.

For more information on Spaceport Days, visit there website here or go to the Spaceport Days and Fly-In page on Facebook.

You might be interested in

Go to Top