'A sad day': Oklahoma County deputy killed, second wounded while serving eviction notice

OKLAHOMA CITY – A gunman killed one Oklahoma deputy and wounded another as they tried to serve an eviction notice on Monday afternoon in southwest Oklahoma City.

"It's a sad day for the Oklahoma County sheriff's office," Sheriff Tommie Johnson III said. "Law enforcement, it's a tight community, and I'm so thankful they were screaming across the state for my guys."

The deputies, described as veteran officers who have been with the department more than 20 years, were taken to a local hospital, where Sgt. Bobby Swartz was pronounced dead.

In a 2018 Facebook video, Swartz wrote the fallen officer joined the sheriff's office in December 1997.

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The wounded deputy was not immediately identified and was described as being in "stable condition," according to the sheriff's office.

The incident began just after 1 p.m. when deputies attempted to serve an eviction notice, officials said.

"We had two deputies who were serving lockout papers, contacted the individual at the front door. They went around to the back door and that's when the shooting began," Johnson said. "Shot the first deputy, the second deputy tried to get that deputy out of the way of gunfire and then he was struck, as well."

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At least one deputy on the scene was able to return fire during the incident, said Capt. Valerie Littlejohn, public information officer for the Oklahoma City Police Department.

'This was about as routine as it gets'

Aaron Brilbeck, public information officer for the Oklahoma County sheriff's office, said serving papers and doing lockouts is "what these guys do."

"This was about as routine as it gets," he said. "These deputies are very well trained; this is the thing that they do 8-10-12 hours per day, every single day."

"Generally it's a question of serving paperwork on a door, coming back a few days later, and nine times out of 10 the person has already vacated the premises. That wasn't the case this time around."

After the shooting, the suspect fled in a truck towing a boat and was spotted by Oklahoma City police and other agencies, which began a pursuit, officials said. The suspect led the police through the city, driving on several highways, including Interstate 240, I-35 and I-40.

"During that pursuit the suspect was firing rounds at officers, and we had officers, as well, returning fire at the suspect," Littlejohn said.

The pursuit ended at the Tinker Gate of Tinker Air Force Base after the driver exited I-40. He was taken into custody with the assistance of "multiple agencies," police said. The suspect, who was not immediately identified, was taken to an area hospital to be medically cleared.

The last line-of-duty shooting death in the Oklahoma County sheriff's office occurred in 1935, when the agency was still called the Oklahoma County Constable's Office, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma County deputy killed, second wounded in shooting