Suspect who died in deputy-involved shooting identified
Nov. 4—CHEYENNE — The man killed during a Halloween night incident that injured a sheriff's deputy has been identified.
James Albert Templeton Jr., 55, of Cheyenne was wanted on multiple felony warrants, according to a Friday morning news release from the Laramie County Sheriff's Office. LCSO had been "actively seeking information regarding the location of Templeton for several months," the agency said.
The warrants included a felony strangulation of a household member warrant from Laramie County; a felony kidnapping warrant from Jefferson County, Colorado; and a warrant for failure to register as a sex offender, issued by the Denver Police Department. Templeton was also barred from possessing a firearm.
It's still unclear how Templeton died during the incident.
The injured deputy has not been identified, but was released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon.
LCSO leadership and the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, which takes over in officer-involved shooting cases, have so far declined to answer several questions from the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.
An unidentified sheriff's deputy was shot and injured during the Monday night incident in east Cheyenne. Deputies had attempted to serve a warrant in the 6900 block of Horse Soldier Road just before 8 p.m., according to an official post on LCSO's Facebook page.
"Shots were exchanged between deputies and the suspect," per the post, timestamped 10:47 p.m. that night. It was the third officer-involved shooting in Laramie County this year.
The deputy who was shot was taken to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center by ambulance, according to local law enforcement. The deputy was released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon, Sheriff Danny Glick told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that day. Glick declined to name the deputy, citing privacy concerns.
A Tuesday afternoon Facebook update from LCSO said the male suspect was pronounced dead at the scene. Glick declined to answer how the suspect was killed.
No one else was injured or killed in the incident, Glick told the WTE.
The sheriff at that time declined to say what the warrant was for. He also did not want to comment on why a warrant was being served on Halloween night.
"I know there will come a time when we will release the information that led to us being there," Glick said.
There is no ongoing threat to the public, according to the sheriff's office.
On May 28, at least one member of the Cheyenne Police/Laramie County Joint SWAT Team shot and killed a suspect out of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, who was reportedly wanted on charges that included second-degree murder. Officers had located the man in a local residence and killed the suspect, Davin Darayle Saunders, after he "pulled a firearm," according to a Cheyenne Police Department news release from the time.
On April 2, an LCSO deputy shot and killed 31-year-old Rance Tillman of Cheyenne, reportedly following a "slow-speed pursuit," a news release said at the time. Tillman was apparently a suspect in a prior assault. In such earlier incidents, the WTE's official requests for documentation have either been rejected or have not been fulfilled.
Investigations of both incidents are in progress by the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, that agency said Friday.
Hannah Black is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's criminal justice reporter. She can be reached at hblack@wyomingnews.com or 307-633-3128. Follow her on Twitter at @hannahcblack.
