The woman killed in her home by Casper police responding to an armed burglar report made the 911 call that drew officers to her door, the department announced Wednesday.
A caller who identified herself as Jody Cobia called the dispatch center just after midnight on April 28 to report a burglary in progress at her home on South McKinley Street in Casper, according to the new statement. She told the dispatcher an armed and dangerous burglar dressed in all black had broken into her home and was in a back room, and she urged officers to hurry up and enter the house, according to the police account.
She then ended the call.
When officers arrived at the property, Cobia opened the front door. “Officers were immediately encountered by a large dog and Cobia with a firearm at her side,” the department wrote in a statement. Cobia began shouting — the release does not say what she said — and pointed the gun at officers, who shot her.
Cobia was taken to Wyoming Medical Center in Casper, where doctors pronounced her dead.
Police did not find anyone else in the house, and there was no evidence of a forced entry into the home or someone fleeing the property, the department reported in Wednesday’s statement.
“Although this call came in as a burglary, at this point in the investigation, there is no evidence of a burglar and it appears as if Jody Cobia made the call to elicit a police response,” the statement read. Police did not elaborate on why they believe she drew police to her house deliberately or what Cobia’s intentions were in making the call.
The three officers involved in the shooting remain on administrative leave as the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation conducts a review. Both the leave and involvement of DCI are routine steps after police shootings. DCI’s investigative work will be provided to the Natrona County District Attorney’s Office for a decision on whether the officers were justified in their use of deadly force.
The department promised to release a “Critical Incident Briefing Video,” which usually includes excerpts of body-camera footage, along with a police narration of the events ahead of the shooting.
In the press release, the department criticized media coverage of the shooting. “Recent media coverage has led to confusion, the dissemination of inaccurate or incomplete information, and social media speculation,” the department wrote. “Factual information will be released by the investigating agency when it becomes available.”
An initial statement last week announcing the shooting offered limited details, saying only that police had responded to a report of an armed burglary and shot and killed someone. The release did not say that the person killed was a legal resident of the home, nor did it state whether there was a burglary suspect.
Because of the ambiguity of that initial statement, commenters on social media, as well as some Wyoming news outlets, described the dead person as a criminal suspect killed while attempting a burglary. Reporters from WyoFile and Cowboy State Daily subsequently identified the dead woman as the legal resident of the home using court records and interviews.
Before publishing a story last week, WyoFile twice sought additional details and further comment from the department, including whether the person killed was the burglary suspect or a resident of the home. Police did not answer those questions at the time.
planned death by cop? was she ill? on drugs? I am glad the police are safe….mentally ill people are unstable. its a shame ….she’s dead and the officer who shot her may feel regret but we back the blue. Theirs. is a tough job.
Since the narrative will now be one sided and the police are already spinning this to blame the victim. They don’t know what was happening before they arrived. There could have been someone trying to get in, or she could have thought she heard someone in the house and thought she saw someone. If you are scared (and remember she had a restraining order on her ex), we’ll never know her mental state. However, until they release more information – maybe when they arrived she yelled “kill me I want to die” and raised her gun. At this point the police hold all the cards and blame the media and the public for “guessing” with the limited info they themselves release.
Just saw a sticker in a shop the other day, “Don’t call the cops!” I’m going to buy some.
Interesting that the cops are so reticent the last few years. Back in my time reporting for K2 Radio, during the Tom Forslund City Managership and even into Patterson’s tenure, the Dept PIOs were very forthcoming, even eager, to get the word out. One of the PIOs, Brian Lamb, later became Chief and maintained that openness. I’m out of the news biz, now, but it appears to me that under McPheeters, the cops got much more close-mouthed, and now that he’s left the post, the cop-shop has gone nearly silent.
Sounds like suicide by cops…? What happened to the dog?
Suicide by cop?
“Dead woman tell no tales” how sad let’s hope to see “body camera video” with their narrative of an American’s life being ended. How many times will the video be edited, have video or audio failure or the camera’s video or audio “just turned off”?
THREE LEO’S!!! Will this become a “WRONGFUL DEATH SUIT! Why not that’s why the City has INSURANCE? In Rawlins, Wyoming it cost the maximum of the co-pay and you and I are probably still paying the rest for that DEATH (WRONGFUL DEATH), hmmmmmmm wondering how the Sheridan case will evolve and how much will that settlement be? Laramie’s settlement was HUGH! BUT! No amount of GOLD is worth my friend, neighbor or family’s life!!!
Hmmmmmmm, could this be a message that the “Castle Doctrine Law” is of no interest to the department and “dead men/women tell no tales”? That LEO’S fear so much for their safety, THEN we bark at the “media” for exercising the FIRST AMENDMENT?
REMEMBER each LEO still has “exigent circumstances” when and if all else fails either way THEY/LEO’S are going to investigate ourselves (like in Sheridan, Wyoming) and if that fails THEY/LEO’S have “qualified immunity”… AND INSURANCE!!!
Thank you WYOFILE for the exercising of the FIRST AMENDMENT while you have “breath” to do so… At least after your exercise of the FIRST AMENDMENT someone is still able to “bark” … It’s too bad and sad that a LEO can feel so unsafe in Casper, Wyoming or any muinisipality in Wyoming and if so he oe she should find another JOB/EMPLOYMENT and not have THREE LEO’S end the lives of an American homosapien… THREE!!!
Please ask a Vietnam Veteran what their “RULES OF ENGAGEMENT” WAS? (Do not fire until fired upon I believe was their ORDERS)… YES LEO’S need get a different JOB especially if the fear is that great because we all wanna go home to be with our “loved ones”. LEO’S/they have a JOB to do and can choose not to do the JOB/EMPLOYMENT as MILITARY PERSON has a DUTY to follow ORDERS and serious consequences for not doing so and can not quit the DUTY assigned as a JOB. Each LEO/THEY can choose not to get/go to a shooting/unsafe scenario because it is a JOB and more importantly a MILITARY PERSON does NOT have “QUALIFIED IMMUNITY” or “INSURANCE” for a “wrongful DEATH/DEAD case as do LEO’S have, sooo the “WAR” is or has to be a LEO’S imagination on the people of this REPUBLIC/the people of THESE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. So each LEO needs to get a different JOB and become and be the LEO that knows the difference between JOB and DUTY.
I/we would or should be curious as to know how many tickets you and your staff are getting tickets for what would be considered “petty items” or how many more “petty” tickets are being issued to our American families there in Casper and across the county hmmmmmmm but I guess someone has to keep the “public in check” so each LEO can feel rewarded/safe for their “paycheck” even if there a few eggs broken/killed in the process?
Maybe the next time there’s a situation/issue call your NEIGHBOR? How many Americans even know their neighbors and at least know their names and if you do know your neighbors:
PLEASE TAKE A BOW, BRAVO!
Because that’s one of reasons you are probably still breathing?
Some would say neighbors taking care of neighbors (neighborhood watch program?) collectively would be a form of vigilantism and probably push towards terrorists activity but thankfully our “elected” so far are in agreement for the “Castle Doctrine Law”.
Again WYOFILE thank you for verifying for us that the American killed died like an American on her own property and you for exercising our FIRST AMENDMENT, be safe and remain a warm body. SEMPER FI!
The Critical Incident Briefing Video will be of great interest.