A Sweetwater County sheriff’s deputy shot a person Monday after responding to a Rock Springs apartment complex for a disturbance involving an individual who was already suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.

Medics took the wounded person, who was not identified, to a hospital in critical condition, the sheriff’s office said in a statement released shortly before 9:30 a.m. Monday. No one else was injured in the incident.

While the sheriff’s office released a written statement with some details about the shooting, it’s unknown what actions by the person, if any, prompted the deputy to fire their weapon, and whether the individual’s self-inflicted gunshot wound was intentional or accidental. 

Sweetwater County did not disclose the name and gender of the individual or the officer in the initial press release.

The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation will lead an inquiry into the shooting. The agency is often tasked with examining law enforcement shootings in Wyoming, which are then sent to a local prosecutor to decide whether the officer’s actions were justified.

A DCI official told WyoFile there was little he could say at this early juncture.

“The only thing I can report is that we are investigating,” DCI Commander Ryan Cox wrote in an email. “I don’t have any other information.  And many of those questions [will] only be answered from the investigation.”

Sheriff’s deputies responded to the Sweetwater Heights apartment complex at about 4:10 a.m. Monday to assist Rock Springs police with a report of an armed person causing a disturbance, according to the sheriff’s office statement. 

Dispatchers were told the person had sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound prior to police arriving. The sheriff’s statement did not offer details about the circumstances or severity of that injury. 

When police and deputies arrived at the apartment complex, they encountered an armed person on an exterior balcony who appeared to have a gunshot wound similar to what had been earlier described to dispatchers, the statement says. It did not disclose what kind of weapon the person had.

“During the encounter, a Sweetwater County sheriff’s deputy discharged a duty weapon,” the sheriff’s office reported. “Preliminary findings indicate the individual was struck.”

Given that phrasing, WyoFile asked a sheriff’s office representative whether the officer fired the gun intentionally or accidentally.

“I can’t characterize the discharge beyond what’s in our initial media release,” Deputy Jason Mower, the agency’s public affairs director, wrote in an email. “What I can say is that, based on the preliminary information available to us, we have no indication that it was accidental. But I’m not in a position to make any final determination, and the exact circumstances are part of the independent investigation now being conducted by DCI.” 

The sheriff’s office put the deputy on administrative leave, which is standard practice in Wyoming after a law enforcement shooting. The agency said it wouldn’t release additional information beyond its statement and referred additional questions to the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation.

Joshua Wolfson serves as WyoFile's editor-in-chief. He lives in Casper. Contact him at josh@wyofile.com.

Tennessee Jane Watson is WyoFile's deputy managing editor. She was a 2020 Nieman Abrams Fellow for Local Investigative Journalism and Wyoming Public Radio's education reporter. She lives in Laramie. Contact...

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