Deputy Sheriff Edward "Red" Phillips

Edward "Red" Phillips

Deputy Sheriff Red Phillips was shot and killed while attempting to arrest a murder suspect in the Green River rail yards.

As Deputy Phillips and nine other law officers searched the Green River railroad yards, Deputy Phillips spotted a man on the platform and instructed him to halt. Instead, the man ran behind a railroad car as Deputy Phillips and another deputy chased after him. The suspect then fired at the two deputies.

Deputy Phillips was struck under the arm by a bullet, which lodged near the spine. He was taken to Sweetwater County Memorial hospital in Rock Springs and underwent two operations. Deputy Phillips died early Saturday morning.

The suspect, who ran from the railroad yards into the south Green River residential district, was killed by a Union Pacific Railroad special agent in a home where he had taken refuge by holding a woman and her two children hostage. It was later learned that the shooter was an ex-convict who had been hiding at a ranch under an alias for a year.

The suspect also killed an auto dealer and wounded a Frontier town marshal during his 14-hour crime rampage.

Deputy Phillips was a United States Navy World War II veteran and previously served with the Wyoming Highway Patrol. He served with the Sweetwater County Sheriff's Department for over one year. He was survived by his wife and three children, the youngest born after he was killed.