Slain Deputy Identified in I-90 Shootout – Gallatin County Sheriff Recounts Events Before Suspects Apprehended Near Missoula
Gallatin County Sheriff Brian Gootkin became deeply involved in Tuesday's I-90 shootout after his department was asked to investigate the death of Broadwater County Sheriff's Deputy Mason Moore.
Moore, a father of three, was shot and killed early on Tuesday morning after stopping a vehicle driven by 61 year-old Lloyd Barrus and his son, 38 year-old Marshall Barrus.
"First thing this morning, we were contacted when the Broadwater County dispatcher could not contact their deputy, so our deputies responded along with the Highway Patrol where they found the deputy shot and killed," Gootkin said. "We're very much involved in the investigation. First, we're assisting DCI (Department of Criminal Investigation) with the investigation, so we have detectives on scene. Secondly, we're helping with scene security and we're also relieving Broadwater County deputies and helping them cover their county. Our coroners office is doing the death investigation and we are currently transporting the deputy to Billings for an autopsy."
Gootkin said Broadwater County Sheriff Wynn Meehan held a meeting with his staff after Deputy Moore was shot and killed.
"The sheriff had a meeting with his staff and his people prior to us escorting the deputy to Billings, so I think sometimes with a smaller department it hits home, and it can even be worse than in a larger department," he said.
The Montana Department of Criminal Investigation provided the following statement from Broadwater County Sheriff Meehan.
“This is a tremendously sad day for all of us here in Broadwater County,” said Broadwater County Sheriff Wynn Meehan. “It’s difficult to adequately describe how devastating it feels to lose one of our own in the line of duty. Our deputy died protecting the citizens of our county and displayed remarkable courage until the very end. His actions will never be forgotten.”