THURSDAY, August 6, 2026|
Photo – CCSO patrol vehicle – Courtesy CCSO
Local law enforcement successfully intervened to protect a person in crisis earlier this week.
Yesterday, Sheriff Alex Bakken announced on social media that on the previous day, August 4th, dispatchers with the Carbon County Unified Dispatch Center in Rawlins received a call regarding a suicidal individual in the Medicine Bow National Forest, north of Highway 130.
After arriving at the scene, sheriff’s deputies encountered a subject threatening to shoot himself/herself with a handgun. The two deputies immediately began attempting to persuade the individual to drop the weapon.
As the situation developed, more officers arrived, including sheriff’s deputies, Highway Patrol troopers, and Game and Fish wardens, and they established a perimeter around the subject.
Sheriff Bakken wrote that after three hours of tense negotiations, his deputies convinced the individual to surrender. The person was then taken to Memorial Hospital of Carbon County for a mental health evaluation.
Sheriff Bakken thanked the county’s deputies and emergency dispatchers for the professional way they handled the extremely volatile situation. He also expressed gratitude to the partner agencies that offered support during the entire incident.
