One Park County sheriff's deputy is dead and two others were injured Wednesday after a man, who reportedly had past run-ins with the law, opened fire on them as they tried to serve an eviction notice, according to police.
The shooting occurred around 9:30 a.m. at the home of 58-year-old Martin Wirth on 36 Iris Drive, at the secluded Friendship Ranch Subdivision in Colorado. Based on the testimony from one officer who arrived shortly before police made contact with Wirth, he apparently lured them inside his home before opening fire on them with a rifle.
"Wirth came out on his deck, paused and then went back inside. Officers quickly followed Wirth inside the residence. As they entered, Wirth fired upon them. Officers returned fire," Undersheriff Monte Gore explained in a news release, according to ABC's Denver affiliate KMGH-TV.
Wirth was killed in the resulting shootout and three officers were hit during the incident. The deputy who was killed was identified as Nate Carrigan, a 13-year veteran of the Park County Sheriff's Office who coached football and baseball at Platte Canyon High School. It's unclear where or how many times he was hit, but the injuries he suffered caused him to die at the scene.
The other two officers hit were identified as Master Patrol Deputy Kolby Martin, an 11-year veteran, and Capt. Mark Hancock, a 21-year veteran, reported The Denver Post. Martin was hit multiple times in the lower extremities, prompting him to be airlifted to Saint Anthony's Hospital where he remains in critical condition, while Hancock was grazed in the ear and was quickly treated at the same hospital before being released.
The shooting, though also indicative of a disturbing trend of increasing violence in the U.S. against police officers, appears to mark the seemingly inevitable end of the multi-year rivalry between police and Wirth. He had already been known to authorities prior to the shooting as a member of the Occupy Denver activist group and a former Green Party candidate for State Senate. He claimed in January that a cop allegedly punched him in the face and knocked out two of his teeth after pointing a loaded pistol at his face.
Because of this history, police sent eight members of the sheriff's office on that day for what they termed "a high-risk writ of restitution."
