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Moving forward: Montrose Police continue to heal

BY SARA GOLDENBERG
SGOLDENBERG@KJCT8.COM

MONTROSE, Colo. (KJCT) -- It's been a long, slow road to recovery for the Montrose Police force-- trying to heal, while serving the community-- protecting those who helped them when their lives turned in the flash of a gunshot that July night.

The 43 officers of the Montrose Police Department felt the full effects of the bullets fired that night. Officers were ambushed while responding to a domestic violence call.

Two officers were wounded and Sergeant David Kinterknecht was killed. In a KJCT News 8 special report, we checked in with Montrose Police almost four months after the tragedy.   

KJCT News 8's Sara Goldenberg spent time with the force back on the beat, working to serve, protect---and heal.

We got a rare inside look at how this department is moving forward. Officers put on their uniforms and kiss their families good bye for the day, just as they did before the shootings. But now they have the extra weight of loss on their minds on nearly every call.

The tragedy that rocked the Montrose Police force happened on a hot summer night. Four months later, more has changed then just the seasons. We spent a fall day patrolling with Officer Ryan Pierce.

“I think about Sgt. Kinterknecht everyday. I really do,” Pierce said. Officer Pierce learned the ropes from Sgt. Kinterknecht. “Sgt. Kinterkneckt was one of my training officers. As a new officer, you're fairly impressionable.  Losing him was very tough on me as well as everyone in the department.”

Pierce says it’s been a long healing process, but the community's support has been overwhelming. “It’s brought the department together. I feel we're stronger now than we ever have been,” Pierce said. After the incident, officers returned to work in a daze.

“It was difficult to come back to work, at least initially, but on the other side, many of us, this is what we like to do,” he said.

Pierce says knowing the community depends on them kept officers strong. After the domestic violence call that claimed Sgt. Kinterknecht's life—“I don’t know that it has changed altogether how we look at it, but knowing this has happened here, I think has definitely changed the way many of us go about handling these situations,” Pierce said.

“Anytime you lose a fellow police officer, it certainly takes a toll.”

Montrose Police Chief Tom Chinn can't remember a time when Colorado had three police officers shot in an incident like this. “To have something like that happen, I think it really does kick you in the teeth.”

Chinn says healing is a slow process. “It’s a nightmare to say the least. I think for some of the officers, certainly some of them that were there during the incident, this is going to be one of those things that will be fresh in their memories for their lifetime.”

After the shock, mourning and tears shed, Chinn says this has brought his department closer than ever before.

“David Kinterkneckt was a brother to all of us here, not just the police department, but the entire community. He's going to be missed for a very long time,” Chinn said.

Officers who survived learned one thing firsthand. “This job is inherently dangerous. This incident certainly proved that,” said Chinn. They know it only takes a couple of seconds for life to change.

“You think about it, and you hope that he's looking over you, looking over the department. And you try to do a job, and do it well, so you can make sure nothing like this ever happens again,” said Officer Pierce.

Both police officers injured in the shooting are recovering. Officer Larry Whitte is back on light duty in the office and expected to start patrolling again in January. Officer Rodney Ragsdale is still at home resting and recuperating. We hear he's doing well, but they're not sure when he'll be back to work yet.