Officials in Utah say the veteran police officer who was shot and killed Sunday had been working overtime to pay for his cancer treatments.
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Henderson, 31, had walked away from a state-run parolee drug treatment center last month.
Authorities say the incident in a Salt Lake City suburb began with a vehicle crash involving Henderson and a woman in a BMW.
Police say Henderson also wounded another officer, 51-year-old Jon Richey, before Henderson was killed in a shootout with officers. Barney died a short time later at the hospital. “On behalf of Utah residents from across the state, our hearts are broken for the family of Officer Doug Barney, who gave the ultimate sacrifice today while in the line of duty”, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said in a statement.
Peggy Holladay is comforted by her son Jaiden Snyder after finding out her son Cory Lee Henderson had been killed during an officer involved shooting Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016, in Holladay, Utah.
“They’re taking it a little bit hard”, Bell said of the unit.
Barney, who responded to the auto crash, spotted Henderson a few blocks away near 4200 S. Lynne Lane (2050 East), a quiet residential neighborhood.
Barney, a married father of three teenagers, had volunteered to work overtime Sunday to help pay for his medical treatments after surviving bladder cancer, the Deseret News reported.
Bell, who was a close friend of the officer killed, was emotional Tuesday as he remembered his former partner. “I really would love to see if we could find one person who he took to jail…who had anything bad to say about him”.
The suspect Cory Henderson had been in jail several times since 2005 for weapons and drug-related charges.
Utah Board of Pardons spokesman Greg Johnson said Henderson’s original release from prison was done under Utah Sentencing Commission guidelines.
“An individual fired what appears to be a single-round at Officer Barney, striking him in the head”, Winder said during the conference. However, Danville Police Officer Thomas Cottrell was also shot and killed Sunday in OH during an ambush-style attack shortly after 11 p.m. Police are still trying to identify the other suspect.
Within 10 days, Henderson checked out to look for work and never came back.
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Some 10,000 people are expected at the funeral for one of the first officers in the country to die on duty this year, and the first ever for the Unified Police Department since it formed in 2010 to serve communities in the Salt Lake City area.
