Deputy breathing, attempting to speak

• Red River Valley Swat Team

Red River Valley Swat team members gather near the site of a standoff Wednesday morning in Mahnomen where a deputy sheriff was shot. (Dave Wallis / The Forum)
• Deputy Christopher Dewey

Sheriff's Deputy Christopher Dewey

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2:40 p.m. Friday Update

FARGO - Deputy Christopher Dewey, critically wounded early Wednesday, now is breathing without the aid of a ventilator as he continues to show improvements from his gunshot wounds.

Dewey’s family reported the removal of his breathing tube at 1:15 p.m. today on the CaringBridge Internet site.

“He is now trying to communicate through writing and is also trying to talk,” the family reported on its online journal charting Dewey’s progress.

“Gave Emily (his wife) a HUG and RUBBED HER BACK! Wonderful news for family and all!”

Dewey, a Mahnomen County, Minn., deputy, was shot in the head and abdomen when he was investigating gunshots in Mahnomen, Minn.

Earlier that morning, in tracking a truck whose driver was suspected of drunken driving, Dewey had stopped in the same neighborhood.

Two men suspected in the shooting made their first court appearances earlier today.

In further news of Dewey’s recovery, the family noted his sedation levels are lighter and he continues to be able to respond to commands and questions.

“He did communicate that he is thirsty and in pain with a thumbs up,” the family’s journal said.

This morning, Carrie Haug, a spokeswoman for Fargo’s MeritCare Hospital, said Christopher Dewey remains in critical but stable condition.

Dewey, 26, was shot – once in the abdomen and once in the head – while investigating a report of a drunken driver. MeritCare doctors performed emergency surgery Wednesday morning to remove damaged tissue and bone fragments.

Earlier today, the journal for Dewey on the CaringBridge Web site reported:

“Chris had another good night. The doctors are keeping his sedation levels lower so he is a bit more responsive. This morning he showed a strong thumbs-up and was combative about routine hygiene.

“There is hope that by the end of the weekend Chris will be off his ventilator. Thank you for your continued support and prayers.”

His wife, Emily, also has posted other journal updates to the Web site.

On Thursday night, she wrote:

“It has been an incredibly overwhelming two days. All of the support and kindness has been more than I could have imagined. When I was with Chris tonight, he responded so strongly to my voice and touch. His improvement, even just throughout today, has been so encouraging.”

Earlier in the day, the journal read:

“I just witnessed a miracle. I watched Chris not only recognize but comfort his wife by squeezing her hand over and over. He also was able to give a BIG thumbs-up and moved his right leg vigorously. He also made an effort to move his lips and open his eyes. For the first time since this tragic event took place, we were able to cry tears of joy. Please keep praying, it is absolutely working!”

To visit the journal or leave a comment for Dewey and his family, visit www.caringbridge.org.

1:29 p.m. Friday Update

MAHNOMEN, Minn. – The partner of the wounded Mahnomen County deputy is on paid administrative leave, pending the investigation of Wednesday’s shooting and nearly nine-hour long standoff here.

Mahnomen County Sheriff Doug Krier said Deputy Chad Peterson was placed on leave after firing one shot at two suspects. One of the men shot and critically wounded Deputy Christopher Dewey.

After arriving to the scene where Dewey was shot in a residential neighborhood west of the Mahnomen County Courthouse, Peterson fired one shot at Thomas Lee Fairbanks and Daniel Kurt Vernier. Peterson injured Fairbanks with the shot, although the bullet didn’t pierce his body. He was treated and released from the Mahnomen Health Center, but could still be seen moving slowly at his first court appearance earlier today.

Sheriff Krier said it’s standard procedure to place a deputy on leave after they’ve been involved in a shooting.

Krier and Mahnomen County Attorney Julie Bruggeman spoke at a 11 a.m. news conference this morning in Mahnomen, about an hour after Fairbanks and Vernier made their first appearance in court.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating the shooting of Dewey and Peterson’s shooting of Fairbanks.

Authorities at the news conference praised Deputy Peterson for his quick actions at the scene. He prevented the two suspects from getting away in Dewey’s patrol car and held them at bay in the mobile home, which is owned by Fairbanks.

Authorities also said they retrieved a hand gun believed to be the one used to shoot Dewey when Vernier surrendered to police about 9 a.m. Wednesday. They said he brought the weapon out with him when he exited the home.

Krier said some of details hadn’t been released to the public because of the ongoing BCA investigation.

Earlier today at the Mahnomen County Courthouse, Fairbanks, 32, was charged with 22 counts, including first- and second-degree attempted murder for shooting the deputy, as well as various counts of assault for firing shots at other law enforcement agents during Wednesday’s standoff.

Fairbanks is alleged to have shot Dewey, 26, who is still in critical condition but stable at Fargo’s MeritCare Hospital. Dewey was shot in the head and the abdomen.

Vernier, 27, was charged with 17 counts, ranging from aiding the assaults, being in contempt of court and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Vernier told police that he was not the one to shoot Dewey.

About 80 people packed the courtroom at the Mahnomen County Courthouse for the 9:30 a.m. hearing, with about 50 law enforcement officers attending, as well as about a dozen family members of the wounded deputy.

The Mahnomen County Sheriff’s Department announced Friday that they will tie blue ribbons to the antennas of their squad cars to show support of Dewey and his family. They encouraged the public to do so as well.

Wednesday’s events began when Dewey was about to wrap up his shift early that morning when he found a pickup that police had been seeking.

The discovery later ended with him lying on a driveway, critically wounded from two gunshot wounds. That shooting triggered the standoff with police that ended peacefully when Fairbanks surrendered a few minutes after 4 p.m. Vernier had surrendered to authorities about 9 a.m. Wednesday.

4:02 p.m. Update

MAHNOMEN, Minn. - Other than the presence of law enforcement officers processing the scene of Wednesday's eight-hour standoff and the yellow sheriff's tape cordoning off a section of a residential neighborhood here, today there was little visible evidence of the crisis that shook this north-central Minnesota town on Wednesday.

Officers were working in the mobile home where Thomas Lee Fairbanks,32, and Daniel Kurt Vernier, 27, holed up Wednesday morning after the shooting of Mahnomen County Sheriff's Deputy Christopher Dewey.

It was unknown whether either of the two suspects would be charged with any crimes today. The two are being held by authorities. Mahnomen County Attorney Julie Bruggeman was unavailble Thursday morning.

A benefit fund has been set up to aid Dewey's family. Donations may be sent to: First National Bank of Mahnomen, c/o Deputy Chris Dewey, P.O. Box 378, 103 N. Main St., Mahnomen, MN 56557. For more information, call (219) 935-5251.

Wednesday's events began when Dewey was about to wrap up what had been a routine shift early that morning when he found a pickup that police had been seeking.

The discovery later ended with him lying on a driveway, critically wounded from two gunshot wounds, one to the head and one to the abdomen.

That shooting triggered the standoff with police that ended peacefully when Fairbanks surrendered a few minutes after 4 p.m. Vernier had surrendered to authorities about 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Dewey was taken to a hospital in Mahnomen where he was stabilized and then he was airlifted to MeritCare Hospital in Fargo about 8:25 a.m. Wednesday.

1:42 p.m. Update

Doctors are “optimistic” that a Mahnomen County, Minn., sheriff’s deputy will survive his injuries after being shot in the head and abdomen Wednesday while responding to a report of shots fired.

Christopher Dewey, 26, is in critical but stable condition following two surgeries that lasted roughly four hours. He is in a medically induced coma at Fargo’s MeritCare Hospital, where he was airlifted after being shot twice just after 7 a.m.

Dewey’s “vital signs are very strong,” but he suffered a severe brain injury from the gunshot wound to the right, front side of his head, a surgeon said Wednesday during a news conference.

“He will almost definitely need future surgery for his head injury,” said Dr. Robert Sticca, a general surgeon who operated on Dewey’s abdomen wound and found an entrance and exit wound while repairing a laceration to the liver. A neurosurgeon operated on Dewey’s head wound after the first surgery.

Doctors are monitoring the functioning on his left side and watching for swelling of the brain, but the brain injury makes it difficult for doctors to give a prognosis at this time, Sticca said.

“As with any neurologic injury … it takes many months often times to get the final outcome,” he said, noting that Dewey will likely be hospitalized for several weeks.

Sticca credited the quick response of officials in Mahnomen who stabilized Dewey before he arrived at Fargo MeritCare via LifeFlight air ambulance at 8:25 a.m.

“They did exactly what they’re supposed to do,” he said, noting Dewey arrived in very stable condition.

The deputy was partially awake in Mahnomen before being placed on a ventilator. He was not awake when he arrived in Fargo, Sticca said.

Several area law enforcement officials spent Wednesday at MeritCare supporting members of Dewey’s family, including his wife of a little more than a year.

“This incident goes through the law enforcement community like a torch,” Laney said. “It is something that, you know, we prepare for, we train for every single day and we know that every day that we put on the uniform and hit the street that this could be the day that something happens. And unfortunately, this was the day it happened. You’re going to see a very strong law enforcement commitment to our brother and his family.”

The law enforcement community in Mahnomen County is particularly tight-knit, with about 18 people between the Sheriff’s Department and county attorney’s office, County Attorney Julie Bruggeman said.

“It’s a small community,” Bruggeman said. “You work so closely with them that you’re there for them.”

She described her relationship with Dewey as similar to that of a family, noting he is a charismatic man with a good sense of humor and a prankster mindset.

“If someone wasn’t chipper, he’d make them chipper,” Bruggeman said.

Dewey, an avid hunter and fisherman, has been with the department for four years and also works as a volunteer rural firefighter. It is his first law enforcement job after graduating from Hibbing Community College in 2003. The school released statements Wednesday giving thoughts and prayers to Dewey’s family and fellow officers.

Dewey “was an excellent student who graduated with high distinction,” said Steve Lorenz, director of the school’s law enforcement program.

It is unclear whether Dewey was wearing a bullet-proof vest. Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney, who is acting as spokesman for the family, said each department sets its own regulations and he was unaware of Mahnomen’s policy.

“I don’t know too many in the field that don’t wear them,” Laney said, noting his department does not mandate vests, but recommends them.

Updated 1 p.m.

MAHNOMEN, Minn. (AP) — The Mahnomen County sheriff says he thinks wounded Deputy Christopher Dewey will pull through.

Sheriff Doug Krier says he saw Dewey at the hospital Wednesday night. Krier says Dewey would respond to a doctor’s verbal commands but had no movement on his left side.

The sheriff says Dewey remains in a medically induced coma and is still critical but stable at MeritCare Hospital in Fargo, N.D.

The 26-year-old deputy was shot in the abdomen and head Wednesday morning in Mahnomen. Two suspects are in jail, with charges pending.

The shooting resulted in a nine-hour standoff in the northwestern Minnesota town. The sheriff says more than 130 officers from various agencies were at the scene.

Updated 11:30 a.m.

MAHNOMEN, Minn. – Two men arrested after a more than eight-hour standoff with authorities here Wednesday following the shooting of a sheriff’s deputy have had previous run-ins with the law.

Thomas Lee Fairbanks, 32, and Daniel Kurt Vernier, 27, both surrendered at different times Wednesday after barricading themselves in a mobile home for several hours after the shooting.

Fairbanks has convictions for burglary, assault and theft, and Vernier has convictions for theft and assault, according to the Minnesota Judicial Branch.

Wednesday’s events began when Deputy Christopher Dewey was about to wrap up what had been a routine shift early that morning when he found a pickup that police had been seeking.

The discovery later ended with him lying on a driveway, critically wounded from two gunshot wounds.

That shooting triggered a standoff with police that ended peacefully when Fairbanks surrendered a few minutes after 4 p.m.

Dewey, 26, remained in critical but stable condition in Fargo’s MeritCare Hospital on Wednesday night following operations to treat his head wound and a lacerated liver.

Police from at least 18 law enforcement agencies, including three SWAT teams, swarmed to surround the two men suspected in the officer’s shooting and to help negotiate an end to the standoff.

“I can tell you nothing like that’s happened in Mahnomen County, and I’ve been here 20 years,” Sheriff Doug Krier said. “You just never anticipate it’s going to happen this close to home.”

The series of events began about 4 a.m. with a report that a drunken driver was seen leaving the Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen.

The sheriff’s office was looking for a pickup – the truck Dewey located about four blocks west of the Mahnomen County Courthouse.

Dewey followed footprints in the snow to a mobile home about a block west of the courthouse – where the four-year deputy of the department had been married 18 months earlier.

The deputy wasn’t able to find the driver, but was called back to the same neighborhood a couple of hours later to investigate a report of gunshots.

At 7:10 a.m., Dewey went to a mobile home to interview two men, officials said.

A minute later his partner, also involved in the gunshot investigation, found Dewey lying in the driveway with bullet wounds in the abdomen and head.

In a news conference after the standoff ended, Krier said Dewey had confronted two men outside the mobile home.

While Dewey was questioning one man, the other shot the officer twice, the sheriff said, adding that both men then holed up in the mobile home.

It was unknown Wednesday which of the two men shot Dewey.

Dewey’s partner, who was a block or two away, quickly arrived on the scene after failing to get an answer by radio to a status check. He called for backup, and police quickly cordoned off the area.

Dewey was taken to the Mahnomen Health Center, where he was stabilized before being airlifted to MeritCare Hospital.

Law enforcement agencies from throughout northwest Minnesota and beyond flocked to the scene, wanting to help apprehend those who had shot a fellow officer, said Dave Bjerga, assistant superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

“This is not unusual,” Bjerga said, elaborating on the 18 agencies that were on the scene. “There’s not a law enforcement agency in the state that didn’t want to be here.”

Vernier gave himself up about 9:30 a.m.

It would be seven hours before Fairbanks would surrender a few minutes after 4 p.m. Police negotiators had intermittent contact with the man by phone throughout the day.

“I don’t know what his state of mind was,” Bjerga said, when asked whether Fairbanks was intoxicated during the standoff. Authorities believe the home the two had holed up in belonged to Fairbanks.

The BCA’s mobile crime lab promptly swept the area after Fairbanks surrendered, collecting evidence before the light faded. A gun wasn’t immediately found, but Bjerga said police believe Dewey was shot with a handgun.

The Mahnomen school was locked down for the students’ protection.

As the investigation was beginning, officers were unable to supply a motive for the disturbances that ended with Dewey’s grave wounds.

“This is a tragic situation for the entire community,” Bjerga said.

Updated 3:10 p.m.

MAHNOMEN – Christopher Dewey, a Mahnomen County sheriff’s deputy, is in critical condition but is stable following initial surgery for multiple gunshot wounds to his head and abdomen after he went to investigate reports of gunshots this morning.

Dewey, 26, now is undergoing a second operation at MeritCare Hospital in Fargo, where he was airlifted after being shot early this morning in Mahnomen while investigating an incident that began as a report of a drunken driver leaving the Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen.

Dewey was stabilized at Mahnomen Health Center and transferred to MeritCare, arriving via LifeFlight air ambulance at 8:25 a.m. He suffered gunshot wounds to the abdomen, according to a hospital news release. Dr. Robert Sticca, a general surgeon, performed surgery on the deputy earlier today, finding an entrance and exit wound with laceration to the liver, which was repaired.

The victim also suffered one gun shot wound to the head. Dr. Chad Justesen, a neurosurgeon, currently is performing that surgery, according to the release.

Dewey is an Isanti, Minn., native, who graduated from Hibbing Community College in 2003 with an associate's degree in law enforcement, according to his page on the social networking Web site MySpace. Dewey is also listed as married and has photos from his wedding on the site.

Doug Krier, the Mahnomen County sheriff, said his wife is with Dewey’s wife, providing moral support as a second surgery is under way.

Meanwhile, police have made intermittent phone contact with one suspect who remains in a trailer house about a block west of the Mahnomen County Courthouse. A second suspect surrendered and is being questioned, said Dave Bjerga, deputy superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

“It’s a very fluid situation,” Bjerga said. “We still have a situation going on.”

Police SWAT teams continue their vigil today outside the trailer home, once occupied by two armed suspects who sought a hideout after a deputy was shot “multiple times” while investigating reports of gunshots early this morning.

Earlier in the morning, while both suspects were still in the home, they ignored police with a bullhorn ordering them to “come out with your hands up.”

Some 40 to 50 law enforcement squad cars, lights flashing, were parked in various positions in the street, starting near the house and lining down several blocks of the quiet residential neighborhood.

Officers holding rifles crouched behind open car doors and behind vehicles facing the house. Further back, other officers changed into bullet proof vests and put on insulated coveralls and boots in the face of 20-below wind chills.

A reporter witnessed officers obtaining a room layout of the house from a young man who lives about two blocks away and was familiar with the house.

The young man told a reporter that “my brother shot a cop.” The man said the suspects wanted to surrender, but were afraid they’d be shot by officers when they left the house. He said his brother wanted him to come over and lead the suspects out of the house.

The man left with officers, but then returned about 10 minutes later.

He said the suspects had been drinking.

Downtown Mahnomen, a farming community of 1,200 people in north-central Minnesota, is swarming with law enforcement officers who converged on the scene after the incident.

Normal routines were disrupted by the standoff, which crept along from early morning into the afternoon. Children on their way to school saw deputies with guns drawn, and nearby residents were evacuated as a safety precaution.

The standoff ensued after reports around 4 a.m. this morning that a possible drunken driver had left the Shooting Star Casino, a large entertainment complex in Mahnomen.

An area near the Mahnomen County Courthouse is cordoned off, with officers maintaining a perimeter to keep bystanders away. Several vans belonging to the Red River Valley SWAT team are among those on the scene.

The Minnesota State Patrol and Bureau of Criminal Apprehension also have tactical teams on hand, and officers from Cass, Clay, Becker and Polk counties are among those on hand, along with tribal police from the White Earth Indian Reservation.

In the search for the drunken driver, the deputy found a vehicle matching the description outside a home in Mahnomen, law enforcement officers said earlier this morning, but found no suspect. About 6:20 a.m., police received a call reporting gunshots.

A deputy returned to the area to investigate at about 7:10 a.m. A minute later, another deputy reported to the scene when he received no response to a query about Dewey’s status. The second officer found Dewey lying on a driveway, with “multiple gunshot wounds,” according to Krier, the Mahnomen County sheriff.

The deputy was taken to the Mahnomen hospital, then airlifted by LifeFlight helicopter ambulance to MeritCare Hospital at 8:25 a.m., where he was undergoing surgery and in critical condition, the sheriff said.

The wounded deputy is a four-year veteran, Krier said.

Another press briefing is scheduled for 4 p.m. Bjerga said police hope to have the standoff resolved by then.

Initial Post

MAHNOMEN - The City of Mahnomen looked like an armed camp Wednesday morning following the shooting of a Mahnomen County deputy.

The deputy, a 26-year-old, four-year veteran of the Mahnomen County Sheriff’s Department, was listed in critical condition and in surgery at 11 a.m. at MeritCare hospital in Fargo. The shooting occurred about 7 a.m.

The Star Tribune newspaper reported that the deputy’s name is Christopher Dewey.

The suspects — believed to be armed with high-powered firearms, according to an officer on the scene — were holed up in a house about three blocks west of the courthouse.

Some 40-50 squad cars, lights flashing, were parked in various positions in the street, starting near the house and going down several blocks of the quiet residential neighborhood.

Officers holding rifles crouched behind open car doors and behind vehicles facing the house. Further back, other officers changed into bullet proof vests and put on insulated coveralls and boots in the face of 20-below wind chills.

According to KFGO Radio, which covered a Mahnomen County Sheriff’s Department news conference late Wednesday morning:

The incident started about 4 a.m. with reports of a drunk driver leaving the Shooting Star Casino. The car was found, unoccupied, near the courthouse in Mahnomen.

About 6:20 a.m., officers received a call of shots fired. Deputies investigated, but didn’t find anything.

About 7:10 a.m. a deputy went to the home of a witness who had reported shots fired. When that deputy did not respond to radio calls from his partner, the partner went to the scene and found him lying in the witnesses’ driveway. He had been shot numerous times.

After the shooting, the suspects ran to a residence across the street, where two people remained as of press time late Wednesday morning.

Earlier in the morning, they ignored police with a bullhorn ordering them to “come out with your hands up.”

Law enforcement officers responding to the scene included Becker County deputies, tribal police, Clearwater County deputies, state troopers, conservation officers, and city police officers and deputies from around the region. Swat teams from the Minnesota Crime Bureau and Clay and Cass counties were also on hand.

A reporter witnessed officers obtaining a room layout of the house from a young man who lives about two blocks away and was familiar with the house.

The young man told a reporter that “my brother shot a cop.” The man said the suspects wanted to surrender, but were afraid they’d be shot by officers when they left the house. He said his brother wanted him to come over and lead the suspects out of the house.

The man left with officers, but then returned about 10 minutes later.

He said the suspects had been drinking.

Tags: news, mahnomen, standoff, christopher, dewey