In the small town of Limon, Colorado, a sense of shock and sorrow descended upon the community following the tragic death of one of its own. Jay William Sheridan, a 27-year-old male police officer, lost his life in the line of duty on the evening of March 9, 2011. A six-year veteran of the Limon Police Department, Sheridan was a husband and a father to a young child.
The fatal encounter unfolded at a mobile home park on the west side of town when Officer Sheridan and other officers
attempted to serve a fugitive arrest warrant. The subject of the warrant was 52-year-old Dennis Mark Hasty, who was wanted in Tennessee for a sex offender registry violation. As the officers entered the mobile home, Hasty opened fire, fatally wounding Officer Sheridan. Following the shooting, a tense standoff ensued for approximately four hours. When a SWAT team eventually made entry into the residence, Hasty was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
In the aftermath of the deadly confrontation, an arrest was made in connection with the incident. A woman identified as 50-year-old Jackie Hasty, who was present in the trailer home, was taken into custody. She was later identified as Dennis Hasty's common-law wife and was subsequently charged with manslaughter and accessory to a crime. The loss of Officer Sheridan, the first officer to be killed in the line of duty in the department's history, left a profound impact on the close-knit community and his fellow officers.
