It will take some time before three Cowley County Sheriff deputies – who were injured in an exchange of gunfire last week that led to the death of 32-year-old Andrea C. Barrow – are cleared to return to work.
The deputies, who have not been identified by name, have all been released from the hospital and are continuing to recover. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is in charge of investigating the incident.
A KBI spokesperson said there is no set amount of time officers must be off the job following an officer-involved shooting. That timeframe is left up to individual departments.
All three Cowley County deputies are currently on administrative leave, according to Sheriff David Falletti.
On April 15, the sheriff deputies were investigating reports of a suspicious driver when they made contact with Barrow on 122nd Rd. a few miles north of Winfield. They were attempting to remove her from her black Jeep Liberty, when she pulled out a handgun and fired at officers.
Law enforcement returned fire and Barrow was fatally wounded.
Other deputies are currently covering for those involved in the shooting.
“We have other deputies that are assigned to investigations, school resource officer and evidence tech that we are rotating around to fill the voids in the schedule,” Falletti said.
KBI will investigate and turn findings over to the Cowley County Attorney’s Office. County attorney Larry Schwartz will then determine if the shooting was justified and whether any criminal charges are warranted.
Falletti said the following in regard to how his department will handle determining when the officers can return to duty.
“Once the County Attorney has the case, reviews it, and determines if it was a justified use of deadly force it is then brought back to me. Once I receive it, I will have the Undersheriff conduct an internal investigation to determine that all policies were followed. This is done through an internal board that (Undersheriff Christina McDonald) will convene. From that, we also determine if there were any tactical or training issues identified. Once those are completed, then the deputies can come back to work after they are cleared medically to work. There is no real time frame at this point.”
For an idea on time frame, the last officer-involved shooting in Cowley County occured in May 2014. Then-county-attorney Chiristopher Smith determined the deadly use of force was justified and delivered his findings in December 2014.
The officer involved in that shooting was injured, placed on paid leave during the investigation and never returned to work for the sheriff’s department. A civil suit was filed in the case but was unsuccessful.
Barrow, the suspect killed last week, lived in Ark City and struggled with mental health issues, according to multiple people who knew her. She sometimes spoke of conspiracy theories and government-based efforts to control its citizenry.
In 2014, she was accused of cutting a man’s head with a scalpel and told police the man told her he had a microchip in his head. Court records indicated charges were eventually dismissed.