A woman killed Monday morning during an encounter with police responding to a burglary report at a Casper residence is listed in court documents as living in the home.
Police have declined to say if the person killed was a criminal suspect or the resident of the house, but court records examined by WyoFile indicate the woman, 37-year-old Jody Cobia, legally resided at the home.
Casper police officers responded to the 1600 block of South McKinley Street, a residential neighborhood in the central part of the city, around 12:36 a.m. Monday. They were responding to a report of an armed burglar in the residence, according to a police statement.
The officers “made contact with a subject armed with a firearm,” shots were fired and the woman was then taken to the hospital, where doctors declared her dead, the statement said.
The statement is not explicit about whether officers shot Cobia. “During the encounter, shots were fired,” it reads.
A department official declined to provide WyoFile with additional information Monday morning, including whether the person who was shot lived at the home, citing the early stages of the investigation.
Early Monday afternoon, the Natrona County Coroners’ Office identified the dead woman as Cobia. Court records reviewed by WyoFile indicate she had sole legal possession of the home as part of a protection order granted in August, though tax records put the home in her husband’s name.
According to the filings, Cobia was the mother of three children and was in the early stages of a divorce from her husband. Court records indicate Cobia petitioned a judge for, and received, a protection order from her husband in August.
That protection order, reviewed by WyoFile, granted Cobia sole possession of the house, 1623 S. McKinley Street, until August of this year. Multiple court documents list the McKinley Street address as her residence.
Mid-morning Monday, a WyoFile journalist observed that the door of 1623 S. McKinley street remained slightly open, though there was no other evidence of an active crime scene investigation nearly 12 hours after the shooting.
On Monday, Casper Police Capt. Jeremy Tremel declined to say whether the person shot was the home resident or a burglary suspect, or whether there was a burglary suspect on the scene. “All I can tell you right now is we responded to a report of a suspected burglary,” he said.
He did not immediately respond to a second request for comment after the coroner published its identification.
Cobia’s husband, Aren Cobia, indicated he was a resident of the home in a divorce petition filed earlier this month. But the court record also indicates Jody Cobia was served with the divorce petition, in person, at the South McKinley Street address on April 15.
Reached briefly by WyoFile, Aren Cobia asked for time to grieve Jody Cobia’s death and declined to otherwise comment. Aren Cobia told a reporter from another news outlet, Cowboy State Daily, that there was no burglar in the home and police had killed his wife.
The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation will investigate the shooting. After police shootings, it’s typical for DCI to conduct an investigation and then provide the findings of that review to an elected county attorney. The prosecutor then decides whether or not to charge officers with any crimes. Prosecutors, in some cases, refer that decision to an outside county attorney to bring an additional level of independence to the investigation.
The officers involved in the shooting are now on administrative leave, according to the department’s news release.
Officials did not describe the person shot as a suspect in that news release, only as a “subject armed with a firearm.” Because of the ambiguity of the official statement, commenters on social media, as well as two Wyoming news outlets, described the deceased as a criminal suspect.
“Suspected burglar dead in Casper Police shooting,” was the headline on an initial Cowboy State Daily story that was online throughout the morning Monday. By the early afternoon, the news site had updated that headline to “One dead in officer-involved shooting during Casper burglary response,” and the site had issued a correction.
“Suspect dead after Casper police respond to armed burglary,” Casper-news site Oil City News reported.
On Facebook, a large number of commenters commended the officers who responded to the home and in several instances suggested a burglary suspect deserved to be killed. “Finally a story with a happy ending,” one commenter wrote. “Clearly he valued their stuff more than his life and got what he deserved,” wrote another.
WyoFile editor Joshua Wolfson contributed reporting from Casper.
Who called her in as a armed burglar? Also why did the cops shoot her instead of deescalating the issue?
I’m a supporter of common sense gun laws. I also believe that every person who chooses to own a gun, whether for protection, sport, or employment, should be held accountable every time they pull the trigger. What a senseless tragedy this was. If you risk getting killed when you call the police, do we really need the police?
Guns kill. Doesn’t matter who is weilding the metal. This whole scenario stinks. But what stinks more is the people who like the fact that someone was shot and died. Those who prejudge everything and believe their gun is the correct answer to whatever the situation is.
Three children lost their Mom. Extended family lost a daughter, a sister, an aunt, and more.
All you stand your ground, conceal carry, my gun is more important than any one or anything people, should have something like this happen to you. Then perhaps you will understand the worship of guns is a pathetic cowardly act.
Your horrible comments reflect how sick our community is. Very, very sick. Now you want them in the schools. What is wrong with that picture. The next death could be your family member.
On one hand, the state government pushes for laws that encourage the possession and use of guns for protection in all spaces (from “Stand Your Ground” to “Castle Laws” to the new elimination of “Gun Free Zones”). On the other hand, it moves to remove accountability from law enforcement who unjustifiably shoot people. So, the message ends up being: Have your gun and brandish your gun to protect yourself, your family, and your home, but understand that even as you do so law enforcement might mistakenly kill you, and there will be no repercussions if they do.
If someone is breaking into my home, my first instinct is going to be to grab my gun, and the second will be to tell my wife to call the police. Maybe I need to rethink this, in case the police show up and see me with my gun and kill me.
So let me get this straight. A woman, living alone, presumably with her three children, has an order of protection against her soon to be ex-husband, is woken by unknown persons in the middle of the night. She does what most people would do in this state, grabs her gun, to investigate what is happening in and/or around her home and is shot and killed for walking around her own home with her own gun. Then gets lambasted in the news and social media as deserving it. Stand your ground state indeed. Maybe I watch too much true crime but I smell a Date Line story.
That’s exactly where my thinking went.
I believe the children were living with their father according to another report.
I would be questioning her ex and finding out who called the police on her! This sounds way out of the normal. Casper police need to turn this investigation over the State and let them find the answers to what happened and why.
Sure sounds like a swatting.
Indeed I would be very interested in hearing the 911 call.
“On Facebook, a large number of commenters commended the officers who responded to the home and in several instances suggested a burglary suspect deserved to be killed. “Finally a story with a happy ending,” one commenter wrote. “Clearly he valued their stuff more than his life and got what he deserved,” wrote another”
These are the flavor of comments that so often accompany articles on Facebook. Trolls each and everyone of them. Disgusting!