Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener, facing lawsuits and criticism following in Bailey that left one of his deputies dead, says he will not run for re-election next year after nearly 20 years in office.
“I’m ready to retire,” Wegener told The Denver Post on Monday.
The Flume newspaper in Park County reported that Wegener had said in 2014 that it would be his last.
Wegener has served some 30 years in law enforcement, helming the Park County Sheriff’s Office through a great deal of tumult.
In September 2006, he was leading the sheriff’s office when an armed man took a group of hostage in a classroom and before — 16-year-old . The suspect, 53-year-old , killed himself as officers closed in.
Then on Feb. 24, 2016, Wegener’s deputies were trying to evict anti-police protester Martin Wirth from his home in Bailey when , killing and wounding two other deputies.
Carrigan’s family and a then-sheriff’s sergeant have sued Wegener and the Park County Sheriff’s Office over events stemming from the attempted eviction.
Authorities knew Wirth had a history of making violent remarks toward law enforcement and considered, , making his eviction a “SWAT call,” Colorado Bureau of Investigation documents show.
Wegener, a Republican, has stood by his agency’s actions the day of the shootout. He declined on Monday to address allegations of mismanagement at the sheriff’s office under his command that have been leveled by former Undersheriff Monte Gore, who resigned after being suspended following the gunfight.
Gore, also a Republican, on a platform that calls “for a change.”
“I’ve heard there will be others,” Wegener said of those who will run to replace him.
The job of sheriff in Park County, which has a population of about 16,000 and includes the towns of Alma, Fairplay, Bailey and Hartsel, includes elections every four years but does not have term limits.