Mary Lindemann

A Wapiti woman is alleged to have fired a shotgun toward two people who walked near her home and then at responding law enforcement officers on Friday night.

A local tactical team arrested Mary A. Lindemann after an hours-long standoff at the 61-year-old’s home in Cody’s Country subdivision. Charging documents say the altercation ended after a neighbor defied officers’ orders, entered Lindemann’s home and came outside with her.

Lindemann was charged with a felony count of aggravated assault and then released from jail on Monday afternoon and a $10,000 cash bond. Her neighbor was arrested on a misdemeanor count of interference with a peace officer before also being released on Monday.

What prompted the incident is unclear, though the Park County Sheriff’s Office said in a Wednesday news release that “alcohol is suspected as playing a factors in the events.” 

After her arrest, Lindemann reportedly told a Park County Sheriff's deputy she’d been “shooting at a freakin raccoon, cuz he was chasin[g] my cats,” but officers said they didn’t see any raccoons in the area.

The sheriff’s office said Wednesday that it remained “an active and ongoing investigation.”

Terrified walkers

Charging documents say the chain of events began around sunset Friday, as two area residents were walking north down Cloudy Drive.

As they approached the dirt road’s intersection with Hawk Drive, they saw a woman — later identified as Lindemann — standing on her front deck and shooting some kind of long gun to the north. That “terrified” the duo, who turned around and began walking back up Cloudy Drive, says an affidavit composed by Sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Gibson.

Lindemann then allegedly fired in the southbound walkers’ direction, “causing dirt to fly up” from the road, the affidavit says of their account. Fearing for their lives, the residents ran to the nearest home to take shelter, Gibson wrote.

One of them later told the deputy that, “As I was running, my sandals fell off, but I just left them there, running through cactus, afraid for my life.”

Law enforcement was notified just after 9 p.m.

Projectiles whizzing overhead

While officers were en route, they were told that Lindemann had turned on loud music and fired more gunshots from her darkened home. When the half-dozen officers reached Lindemann’s driveway, she was reportedly out on the deck and still shooting.

“After the first shot was fired we took cover tighter to the trucks and yelled to Mary [Lindemann],” Gibson wrote. “[W]e identified ourselves by yelling out to Mary as the Sheriff’s Office multiple times and told Mary to put the gun down.”

But soon after that, a deputy manning a night vision/thermal imaging device saw Lindemann turn her weapon toward the group, and he told everyone to get down.

Lindemann then fired a second shot, “which was aimed in our direction,” Gibson wrote; he said all of the officers heard something “whizzing through the air just above our heads.”

The officers identified themselves again and commanded Lindemann to put down her gun, Gibson wrote, but about 30 seconds later, she fired another shot in their direction.

“... the sound of the projectile(s) could be heard whizzing through the air just above our heads once again,” he said.

The officers tried calling out to Lindemann more times, but she responded with expletives, the affidavit says. For example, when Gibson yelled that he didn’t want anyone to get hurt, Lindemann reportedly replied, “Get the f— out of here!”

And when a highway patrol trooper called out to say they just wanted to talk and asked her to put down the gun, Lindemann reportedly yelled, “F— you!”

She then stopped responding and was seen pointing the gun in random directions, the affidavit says.

Calling for backup

After about 20 minutes, the officers made a decision to summon the local, multi-agency tactical team and to get better cover behind a dirt berm. 

As the officers kept an eye on Lindemann’s cabin, a neighbor, 59-year-old Mark A. Schulz, drove up and indicated that he wanted to help.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Phil Johnson reportedly told Schulz to go to a staging area at the Red Barn gas station, where he could help authorities call Lindemann and try to get her to surrender.

Schulz “seemed very distraught, but said he would do that and left in his vehicle,” Deputy William DeFord wrote in an affidavit.

The tactical team arrived with an armored vehicle from the Cody Police Department around 11:15 p.m. and used a spotlight to illuminate the front of the house. They soon spotted Lindemann and Schulz standing on the front deck.

The team then moved in and arrested them both — Lindemann on the aggravated assault charge and Schulz for interference.

When asked what she’d been shooting, Lindemann reportedly said she didn’t know, but thought it was a .22. Deputies actually found a .410 single shot, break-action shotgun. The gun held a live round and the hammer was cocked at the time it was seized.

A ‘very dangerous’ intervention

As for how Schulz came to be on the deck, he reportedly told authorities that after they told him to leave the area, he parked his truck and walked to Lindemann’s home in the dark.

According to DeFord’s affidavit, Schulz said it was “an attempt to help law enforcement bring the incident to a close without further incident.” The deputy recalled Schulz saying something to the effect of, “You’d be out here all night if it wasn’t for me.”

However, Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Eichele described the man’s actions as “very dangerous.”

“Law enforcement was worried he [Schulz] was going to be taken hostage or shot,” Eichele said at a Monday afternoon hearing in Circuit Court. “They were loaded for bear that night.”

Appearing via video from the jail, Schulz offered that, “I just feel embarrassed being here, obviously,” before Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah cut him off.

“If your attorney was here, he would say, ‘Don’t say that,’ because you just implicitly apologized for something,” Darrah said. “You don’t have to do that; it’s not going to do you any good today.”

Schulz pleaded not guilty to the charge and, at Eichele’s recommendation, was released on a signature bond pending a trial.

Released on bond

Meanwhile, Eichele and Lindemann’s retained defense attorney, Brigita Krisjansons, jointly recommended that Lindemann be released on a $10,000 cash bond.

Eichele indicated that he originally planned to request a “high surety bond, but between us, we agreed that a $10,000 cash only [bond] would suffice …”

Krisjansons said her office would present a $10,000 cashier’s check to the court as soon as the hearing was over and Lindemann was released from jail a short time later.

As stipulated by the parties and agreed to by Darrah, Lindemann’s bond conditions bar her from possessing firearms, drinking alcohol or contacting Schulz or the alleged victims, among other requirements. Lindemann can leave Park County, but not the state.

“She’s not a flight risk,” Eichele said. “It’s just … obviously the charges implicate public safety.”

A preliminary hearing for Lindemann is tentatively set for Aug. 11, but Krisjansons indicated she’ll probably ask for a delay.

(Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional information from a Park County Sheriff's Office news release.)