Cathy Simpson visits the Nevada Law Enforcement Officers Memorial on Monday to say a prayer and pay respect to fallen Carson City Sheriff's Deputy Carl Howell.
The Carson City deputy killed in the line of duty will be honored with the U.S. Honor Flag at his funeral service Thursday.
Deputy Carl Howell was killed Saturday morning while responding to a call of a physical domestic disturbance between a couple at the 4100 block of Montez Drive at about 2 a.m.
A male suspect, Jonathon Pope, came out of the residence while Howell was talking with the female victim and opened fire. Howell was able to return fire, killing Pope.
Officers on-scene tried to save Howell by pulling him away from the house, said Reno Police Department Public Information Officer Tim Broadway, but Howell was transported to the hospital where he later died from his injuries. Broadway said that no other officers on scene fired their weapons. An autopsy was performed Monday on Howell’s body and results are expected this morning.
Deputy Howell is survived by his wife, Rachel and four small children.
Howell will have the U.S. Honor Flag at his funeral service, which is being held in Reno on Thursday. Since Sept 11, 2001, the flag has been a tribute to men and women killed in the line of duty and has traveled more than 7 million miles honoring more than 1,000 heroes.
This flag will have a state-by-state escort, starting in Texas said president and co-founder of the Honor Network, Chris Heisler.
The U.S. Honor Flag is a sacred symbol, with strict rules for how honor guard members can handle it, including never unfolding the flag and wearing white gloves at all times when handling it so that no human hands touch it. The family members will receive the white gloves used to handle to U.S. Honor Flag.
Howell’s funeral will be at the Reno Events Center Thursday at 11 a.m., with a processional starting at 9 a.m. in front of the Sheriff’s Office and it will continue past the Capitol where it will join with the remainder of the processional at the College Parkway on-ramp and continue to the funeral service. Sheriff Ken Furlong said that people should avoid those areas Thursday morning because of heavy traffic.
Furlong said that the amount of support from the city and residents has been overwhelming for the department.
“We want to thank everyone for supporting us from food to flowers, phone calls to mail, it has been such an unbelievable tsunami of support,” Furlong said.
Furlong apologized to the citizens of Carson City in a press release for not having the funeral locally.
“Within the community, there are insufficient facility accommodations to support the anticipated seating capacity for services,” the press release stated.
He said they believe officers from as far as New York will be attending the service. It is open to the public to attend.
Deputy Howell was on temporary assignment to the Patrol Division, he regularly was in court services. However, because of staffing issues, Howell was assigned to the patrol division about a month ago and was set to go back to the courts next week. Furlong said that Howell was selected because he had road training and was a patrol officer before, so the department knew that he was properly trained for patrol.
Employees at the Sheriff’s Office said that the saddest part about the incident was that the call was so routine.
At the scene, two officers — Howell and a second — responded to the initial call and Furlong said that within the half hour of the call coming out, four more patrol deputies had arrived to assist. For those officers and others devastated by the tragedy, the Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with Nevada State Health and Human Services has set up a Crisis Management counseling service. The department will continue intense crisis management for about a week for employees, but Furlong said that it does not have any impact on external services.
The mayor’s office and other city officials also have been working with the Sheriff’s Office to help assist family, employees, and the other victims impacted by the tragedy, including authorizing Public Works to perform environmental rehabilitation of the immediate crime scene area.
In order to allow law enforcement employees to attend the service, the Sheriff’s Office administration functions and all services located inside the Carson City Courthouse — including the Justice and District courts, Alternative Sentencing Department and Advocates to End Domestic Violence —the Juvenile Courts and Juvenile Probation Department will be closed Thursday.
The Carson City Clerk/Recorder’s Office, 885 E. Musser St., will remain open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
There also will be some delays in non-emergency call for service that may be experienced during the funeral services, Furlong said.