March 3 (UPI) — A Boone County Sheriff’s deputy sustained a fatal gunshot injury Friday while helping an area police department serve a search warrant, local law enforcement said.
Boone County Sheriff Mike Nielsen announced during a news conference that deputy Jacob Pickett, 30, would not survive his head wound. His family were preparing to donate his organs.
“Today, the thin blue line was shattered,” Nielsen said. “Jake continues to give life after death, by being an organ donor.”
Pickett, a five-year veteran, was shot while assisting the Lebanon Police Department, Indiana State Police said. The police department was attempting to serve an arrest warrant for a woman when they observed a man, John Baldwin Jr., whom they knew to also have an arrest warrant.
They attempted to arrest him, but he got into a vehicle with two other people and led police on a car chase, which the sheriff’s office joined.
The car chase turned into a foot chase, at which point, shots were fired, striking Pickett and one of the suspects. The injured suspect was identified as Anthony Baumgardt, who was in stable condition at St. Vincent Indianapolis hospital.
John Baldwin Jr. and his father, John Baldwin Sr., were arrested.
Pickett, who led the sheriff’s office’s K-9 team, is survived by his wife, two children, mother and father.
