Publisher’s Perspective

By Tim Douglass, Publisher of the Pope County Tribune

The community and the Pope County Sheriff’s Office was stunned over the weekend as we learned that three local law enforcement officers were involved in a shooting during an attempted arrest for domestic assault.

One officer, Deputy Josh Owen, 44, was killed as a result of the gunfire exchanged Saturday night in an apartment in Cyrus.

The other two officers were injured and the suspect died at the scene, we were told in a news conference held in Glenwood on Sunday afternoon.

The scene in Glenwood on Sunday was a somber one.  The Glenwood Fire Department placed a flag on a ladder truck and flew it high above Minnesota Avenue.  Deputy Josh Owen’s squad was parked across the street on the Pope County Courthouse lawn, lights flashing and draped with a “blue line” flag.  Already on Sunday, area residents were placing flowers around the squad.

All the officers, but especially Pope County Sheriff Tim Riley, were visibly shaken as Riley took to the podium at the news conference.  Pausing repeatedly, Riley had to start the conference by talking about one of his fallen officers.

““Yesterday, April 15, Pope County law enforcement lost a brother.” he said pausing to speak and trying to hold back tears.  “Our sympathies and love are with Deputy Josh Owen’s family and families of the other deputies and officers involved,” Riley said. “Deputy Owen had a heart as big as his stature…he loved his family, his brotherhood and his community, Riley added.

As members of a small rural community in Pope County we don’t expect to be attending a news conference about officers being shot in the line of duty.  Mostly, we just believe it can’t happen here.  Until it does.

With that said, we know our local officers have an important job to do and they do it to serve the community while often putting themselves at risk.  We need to understand and appreciate that.

This tragic shooting and loss of a wonderful man and a deputy who was doing his job to protect the community, will be felt here for a long time.  Our sympathies to deputy Owen’s family and our appreciatition to him for his nearly 12-year service to Pope County as a law enforcement officer.  Words at this time are difficult to summon.  It is a sad day in Pope County and throughout the area.  Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and his extended family–The Pope County Sheriff’s Office and area police departments.  We also appreciate the other officers who were on the scene and who were involved in the shooting.  They, like all our law enforcement personnel, will need our support in the coming days and well into the future.