Carbon County deputy was shot ‘several times,’ suspect dead after incident in Baggs

A Carbon County deputy was shot “several times” Monday in Baggs after responding to a report of a man with a gun, Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken said on Facebook late Monday.

Intermountain Air Ambulance airlifted the wounded deputy, who is not identified in the statement, to St. Mary’s Medical Center in Grand Junction, Colorado. As of early Tuesday morning, the deputy’s medical condition was unknown. 

“Please keep our injured deputy and their family in your thoughts and prayers,” Bakken said in the statement.

The suspect, who is not identified, fled in a small truck, according to Bakken. He opened fire on the law enforcement officers again and then drove off the highway and came to a stop. The man died on scene, Bakken states in his social media post. 

Bakken’s post doesn’t specify how the man died. The sheriff didn’t immediately respond to WyoFile’s inquiries Monday afternoon or early Tuesday.

Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Commander Ryan Cox confirmed in an email to WyoFile on Monday night that the agency is investigating the incident. 

Shortly before 1 p.m. Monday, a law enforcement dispatcher reported that she had received a call about a man at 49 West Cedar Street in Baggs who “came out of a house with a long gun, fired a shot, and now he is walking around trying to get into an apartment,” according to a recording of scanner traffic from the time. 

The dispatcher relayed that the suspect wore green camo pants and no shirt. Around 1 p.m., the dispatcher reported that the suspect had gotten into a truck and was “heading towards the highway.” 

Around 1:30 p.m., a law enforcement officer said over dispatch that a “deputy was hit” and residents were “applying treatment.” Law enforcement continued pursuing the suspect. “Shots fired! Shots fired! He hit my windshield,” an officer said over dispatch. 

Sheriff’s deputies as well as Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers pursued the man on Highway 789 north of Baggs, Bakken states. At about 2:20 p.m., Wyoming Highway Patrol announced on social media that its troopers had responded to the report of shots fired and that there was a heavy law enforcement presence in the area. 

SWAT teams from Sweetwater County and Colorado responded to the incident, according to a statement from the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office, which helped with the response. Carbon County deputies exchanged gunfire with the suspect near Milepost 39 on Highway 789, the statement said.

When Moffat County deputies arrived in the area, Carbon County deputies were “maintaining positions of cover and containment” around the truck, which was on a two-track road, the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office said. 

Law enforcement used a “robotic platform” and drones to “assess the situation,” according to the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office. With these tools, law enforcement determined that the suspect was dead inside the truck. 

Reached by phone late Monday afternoon, Baggs Mayor Matt Howell declined to comment on the incident, but said the situation was, by then, under control. He referred WyoFile to law enforcement for more information. 

Photos and videos posted on social media or shared directly with WyoFile show several law enforcement vehicles parked at what appears to be the entrance of Cedar Drive from Highway 789 near a Conoco gas station. Other photos also show a SWAT vehicle. 

Several Colorado law enforcement agencies responded to the incident, including Moffat County, the Craig Police Department, the Colorado State Patrol, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the Routt County Sheriff’s Office and the Steamboat Springs Police Department, the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office said. 

The Moffat County Sheriff’s Office also thanked the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office, Grand Junction Police Department and Colorado State Patrol “for their support” of the injured deputy and his family.

WyoFile editor Joshua Wolfson contributed reporting. 

This story has been updated.