Officer Down: Idaho Deputy Gunned Down by Motorist at Traffic Stop

Tobin Bolter “never even made it to the window,” Ada County Sheriff Matt Clifford said.

An Idaho sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed Saturday night when he approached a driver’s window during a traffic stop.

Ada County Deputy Tobin Bolter, 27, died Sunday morning from a gunshot wound to the neck, the Idaho Statesman reported.

Video from the scene showed the deputy “never even made it to the window,” Ada County Sheriff Matt Clifford said.

Clifford said the 65-year-old killer had a $3,000 warrant out for his arrest, but investigators don’t yet know why Bolter pulled him over or why he opened fire on the deputy.

The gunman, identified as Dennis Mulqueen, was later shot by police in Boise and was taken to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, where he died, KMVT reported.

Boise police said they located Mulqueen’s abandoned car at about 9:30 p.m., about 30 minutes after the deputy’s shooting, at the intersection of W. Dorian St. and S. Roosevelt St. and then found “a subject believed to be the shooting suspect” outside a home several blocks away. Police said the suspect was “uncooperative” as they “attempted to take the suspect safely and peacefully into custody.”

Shortly after midnight, Mulqueen fired at the officers. A Boise officer returned fire, striking him. That officer has been placed on administrative leave while the Ada County Critical Incident Task Force investigates.

Bolter joined the Ada County Sheriff’s Office in January but had worked in law enforcement for seven years, including in Meridian, Idaho, and Pleasant Hill, California, the Statesman reported.

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[Featured image: Tobin Bolter/Ada County Sheriff’s Office]