Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener, facing lawsuits and criticism following a shootout last year in Bailey that left one of his deputies dead, says he will not run for re-election next year after nearly 20 years in office.

“I’m ready to retire,” Wegener told The Denver Post on Monday.

The Flume newspaper in Park County reported that Wegener had said before being elected to his current term in 2014 that it would be his last.

Wegener has served some 30 years in law enforcement, helming the Park County Sheriff’s Office through a great deal of tumult.

In September 2006, he was leading the sheriff’s office when an armed man took a group of female students at Platte Canyon High School hostage in a classroom and sexually assaulted them before fatally shooting one — 16-year-old Emily Keyes. The suspect, 53-year-old Duane Morrison, killed himself as officers closed in.

Then on Feb. 24, 2016, Wegener’s deputies were trying to evict anti-police protester Martin Wirth from his home in Bailey when Wirth unleashed a hail of bullets, killing Cpl. Nate Carrigan and wounding two other deputies.

Carrigan’s family and a then-sheriff’s sergeant have sued Wegener and the Park County Sheriff’s Office over events stemming from the attempted eviction.

Authorities knew Wirth had a history of making violent remarks toward law enforcement and considered, but ultimately rejected, making his eviction a “SWAT call,” Colorado Bureau of Investigation documents show.

Wegener, a Republican, has stood by his agency’s actions the day of the shootout. He declined on Monday to address allegations of mismanagement at the sheriff’s office under his command that have been leveled by former Undersheriff Monte Gore, who resigned after being suspended following the gunfight.

Denver Post file Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener explains the situation in which one officer died and two others were injured, at a press conference at a Platte Canyon Fire District station on Feb. 25, 2016 in Bailey.

Provided photo Monte Gore

An officer stands the flatbed of a truck next to the home of Martin Wirth, which he was being evicted from which led to the shooting, on Feb. 25, 2016 in Bailey.



Martin Wirth is shown in a photo from his campaign Facebook page.

Denver Post file Deputy Cpl. Nate Carrigan

Helen H. Richardson, Denver Post file ARVADA, CO - MARCH 14: A Denver police officer stands watch over the flag draped casket at the memorial service for Park County Deputy Corporal Nathaniel "Nate" Carrigan at Faith Bible Chapel on March 14, 2016 in Arvada, Colorado. Carrigan was killed in the line of duty while serving a warrant in Bailey, Colorado on February 24, 2016. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)



Gore, also a Republican, is now running to replace Wegener on a platform that calls “for a change.”

“I’ve heard there will be others,” Wegener said of those who will run to replace him.

The job of sheriff in Park County, which has a population of about 16,000 and includes the towns of Alma, Fairplay, Bailey and Hartsel, includes elections every four years but does not have term limits.