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For the first time in its history, the city of Rexburg had a lethal shooting done by its police force.
A guy robbed the local Walgreen's drug store at gunpoint of its supplies of oxycodone and oxycontin, and then was potted a few minus later by some responding cops about a block away. The robber began shooting, the police returned fire, and the perp was injured by a mortal gunshot wound. He died later Monday evening at the local hospital.
Rexburg was founded by Thomas Ricks, and incorporated in 1883. (the name Ricks is germanic for 'rex'). 132 years is a remarkably long time for any town to have not had a lethal gunfight ever occur, especially in Idaho, especially in the western slope of the Tetons.
There were a lot of gunfights in Jackson Hole, Ashton, and all the surrounding communities during the late 1800s, when there were all kinds of disputes going on over just about everything. The infamous Johnson County War in Wyoming occurred only 450 miles away, not all that much distance for such a big disturbance. A lot of the folks who got away from that fight ended up in Jackson Hole, and then over the hill to Idaho during the war and afterwards. Rexburg, it would seem, would have been a good place to hide out for crooks for all kinds of reasons.
I guess this must be a testament to the city's police chiefs and force over so long. They must have been tough guys who moved the bad guys along before they had enough time to do any gunplay before now.
I still find it extremely unlikely that there wasn't a police shooting somewhere, sometime, back in Rexburg's past. But at the same time, Rexburg has always been much more peaceful than any of the surrounding towns for my entire life. There are cities very close by that have much worse reputations for violence.
Part of it may be due to the fact that there has never been any establishment that serves alcohol inside the city limits. While Madison county isn't dry, Rexburg is, has always been, and probably always will be. This creates the early closure of restaurants and other places where liquor is commonly served elsewhere, and since there are no bars, there are very few late night businesses even today.
Ricks College was established soon after the city's founding, and has always been heavily attended. the school was a 2-year Jr. college until the 90s, and was always an LDS school. All the students got to know each other well very typically, which makes for a tight community. Moscow is very similar in that regard.
Another rather singular thing are the residents. People there lose their temper just like anywhere else, and will sometimes go to fighting with each other, but it's very common there to see friends and relatives jump into the middle of a fight, and break it up fast and haul the fighters out of there. Folks don't stand around and watch or flee like they do in other towns.
Since everyone is always sober, the fights that do occur usually don't escalate like they can when folks are intoxicated.
Everybody knows everybody else in Rexburg, as it is in lots of small towns here.
The folks tend to keep to themselves and don't come to big city Idaho Falls as much as the residents of all the other small towns do; there really isn't much need to go to I.F., as Rexburg has always had it's own theaters, a good sized business district for a town its size, and more dealerships than would be expected for farm equipment and autos as well.
It's always been a micro metro district as a result, as Rexburg is the closest city in a pretty big area that encompasses all of Island Park and across the Montana border to as far away as Ennis and W. Yellowstone. It has a good hospital, lots of doctors and dentists, and professionals of all kinds living there. And the population has always been almost totally LDS as well. This also makes for a very cohesive city.
All in all, I really shouldn't be as surprised as I was.
Even so, Rexburg exploded in growth after Ricks College became a 4-year school, and offered advanced degrees as Brigham Young University, Idaho. The college's main auditorium now seats 15,000 people, and fills up daily with afternoon services. This grown has brought on much more crime than ever in the past- most of it is property theft and petty crime, though, with very little violent crime. Drugs are a problem new to the town too, but I'm sure their drug problem is nothing like any other city of its size in the state.
When I was little, one of the theaters showed the only 3-D movies in S.E. Idaho. My Dad used to take my family there to watch them, and I always loved going to the movies in Rexburg. There was also the biggest soda fountain there I ever saw anywhere, and we would go for a treat after the show. It was great fun for a farm kid! I believe both the theater and fountain are still there.
BM, interesting take on Rexburg. (That's one of my backup plans if NID doesn't work out.) I was wondering about the population growth, but you covered that pretty well. Have to disagree about one thing you said. I'm pretty sure that the people of Ennis and probably West Yellowstone would go to Bozeman instead of Rexburg for their goods and services.
It's a two-hour drive from Ennis to Rexburg and less than half that from Ennis to Bozeman. Also, they'd want that no sales tax that MT has. West Yellowstone is pretty close to the same distance, so again, they'd want to save a few bucks by not paying sales tax. Besides, Bozeman has a Costco and Rexburg doesn't, neither does IF. What more does one need?
BM, interesting take on Rexburg. (That's one of my backup plans if NID doesn't work out.) I was wondering about the population growth, but you covered that pretty well. Have to disagree about one thing you said. I'm pretty sure that the people of Ennis and probably West Yellowstone would go to Bozeman instead of Rexburg for their goods and services.
It's a two-hour drive from Ennis to Rexburg and less than half that from Ennis to Bozeman. Also, they'd want that no sales tax that MT has. West Yellowstone is pretty close to the same distance, so again, they'd want to save a few bucks by not paying sales tax. Besides, Bozeman has a Costco and Rexburg doesn't, neither does IF. What more does one need?
Sorry- I meant to imply all the area between Rexburg and Ennis. For sure, once a person reaches tennis, Bozeman is much closer and has more amenities than Rexburg.
But it all depends on the needs and the distance for all the folks who live along the Madison river and in the Gallatin Canyon north of W. Yellowstone southward into Island Park and on to the valley below.
And sometimes during the winters more depends on which road is the most passable than anything else. It's all high snow country north of Ashton.
Thanks Sage for moving this thread. It is an Idaho Falls area story.
What is always a judgement call is whether to place something in Idaho where probably more people will comment, or Idaho Falls where probably less than 10 people routinely look.
Maybe there is a way to write a post about check the I. F. Sub-forum about the story. I'm open to ideas.
I still find it extremely unlikely that there wasn't a police shooting somewhere, sometime, back in Rexburg's past. But at the same time, Rexburg has always been much more peaceful than any of the surrounding towns for my entire life. There are cities very close by that have much worse reputations for violence.
Part of it may be due to the fact that there has never been any establishment that serves alcohol inside the city limits. While Madison county isn't dry, Rexburg is, has always been, and probably always will be. This creates the early closure of restaurants and other places where liquor is commonly served elsewhere, and since there are no bars, there are very few late night businesses even today.
Ricks College was established soon after the city's founding, and has always been heavily attended. the school was a 2-year Jr. college until the 90s, and was always an LDS school. All the students got to know each other well very typically, which makes for a tight community. Moscow is very similar in that regard.
Another rather singular thing are the residents. People there lose their temper just like anywhere else, and will sometimes go to fighting with each other, but it's very common there to see friends and relatives jump into the middle of a fight, and break it up fast and haul the fighters out of there. Folks don't stand around and watch or flee like they do in other towns.
Since everyone is always sober, the fights that do occur usually don't escalate like they can when folks are intoxicated.
Everybody knows everybody else in Rexburg, as it is in lots of small towns here.
The folks tend to keep to themselves and don't come to big city Idaho Falls as much as the residents of all the other small towns do; there really isn't much need to go to I.F., as Rexburg has always had it's own theaters, a good sized business district for a town its size, and more dealerships than would be expected for farm equipment and autos as well.
It's always been a micro metro district as a result, as Rexburg is the closest city in a pretty big area that encompasses all of Island Park and across the Montana border to as far away as Ennis and W. Yellowstone. It has a good hospital, lots of doctors and dentists, and professionals of all kinds living there. And the population has always been almost totally LDS as well. This also makes for a very cohesive city.
All in all, I really shouldn't be as surprised as I was.
Even so, Rexburg exploded in growth after Ricks College became a 4-year school, and offered advanced degrees as Brigham Young University, Idaho. The college's main auditorium now seats 15,000 people, and fills up daily with afternoon services. This grown has brought on much more crime than ever in the past- most of it is property theft and petty crime, though, with very little violent crime. Drugs are a problem new to the town too, but I'm sure their drug problem is nothing like any other city of its size in the state.
When I was little, one of the theaters showed the only 3-D movies in S.E. Idaho. My Dad used to take my family there to watch them, and I always loved going to the movies in Rexburg. There was also the biggest soda fountain there I ever saw anywhere, and we would go for a treat after the show. It was great fun for a farm kid! I believe both the theater and fountain are still there.
Interesting post, Mike. I agree with a lot of what you wrote. I think there have been shootings a few miles away, but I can believe this is the first in Rexburg. I'm not sure when they got a P.D. of their own.
Rexburg is a Micro Stat Area. .Until BYU-Idaho became a four year school, growth wasn't much. Agriculture and both dairy and crop farming were the main revenue producers besides Ricks College. The dealerships were and are needed for the Upper Valley farmers and residents.
Many BYU -Idaho students share apartments with 3-5 others. Many do not have their own car. Nonetheless, there are always hundreds or more in Idaho Falls mostly for shopping or fun finding things Rexburg doesn't carry. However, EIRMC is the major teaching facility for the highly regarded RN program. Not all can take the bus so many car pool while on EIRMC rotations.
To me, the fact not all 18 and 19 y.o. kids have cars, and I agree with you about the lower than average alcohol use, are also factors how many are NOT out creating havoc at night. Plus, what has been an established highway for most the population, do you remember the "old road" and gems like the Thornton Bridge? I don't think it was that safe for Rexburg residents to travel to Idaho Falls at night before the "new highway" got built. So there were 2-3 movie theaters there.
What I'm trying to say, is in earlier years before the growth, the one road in and out of Rexburg probably was a deterrent to crime too. Given the struggles of more and more t in Teton County, who live there but work in Jackson Hole, WY, I'm not surprised the person shot was from Driggs.
I don't agree about a few things starting with lots of doctors in Rexburg. If you subtract the 17 physicians who have a weekly clinic in Rexburg instead of their main office in Idaho Falls, a urologist from Poky and an ortho from Driggs, Rexburg has mostly FPs. Recruiting there is tough. They do have as many OBs as Poky but both of the Rexburg internists work full-time (15 shifts/month) at EIRMC as hospitalists. Primary cares in Rexburg are struggling and joining together to form larger groups and share costs. The E.R. is now being staffed by doctors paid by the U. Of Utah. I won't comment about that E.R. agreement openly exc=pt to say all the docs working at MMH are still there.
EIRMC and especially Radiology, E.R. and Neonatology have worked hard to build services at Madison Memorial Hospital. So we see Rexburg differently when it comes to medical and who is making things happen in Rexburg.
Plus, I don't know what all the BYU-IDAHO students attend every afternoon. Can you please explain more about that? Devotional is for an 1 hour on Tuesday afternoons. And if you watched the news and probably in the PR today, BYU-IDAHO got a new President named yesterday.
This may seem like I'm being a jerk and I'm not trying to be. Just pointing out other differences I remember. I do agree Rexburg and surrounding areas are getting their first look at crimes associated with drugs. However, my understanding is the Theft was of prescription drugs. I don't know enough more about this shooting to know if illicit drugs were used too.
Good topic to address Maybe some news releases would help. Here's one:
Most of my surprise comes from how wild, wooly, and rough all of the Upper Snake River Valley once was during my years growing up here in the 50s and 60s.
I grew up hearing stories from my grandparents and their generation, folks who were born here in the late 1880s to ca.1900, and their accounts were even wilder than the times I observed myself. There were a lot of people living throughout the valley who died from violence, especially manslaughter killings. Serious robberies that created gunfights and such were pretty darned common everywhere.
Rexburg is far from being isolated. In fact, before the roads that are here now even existed, an outlaw escaping the law by horse, on foot, by rail or by automobile would take roads that most folks now don't even know they once existed, and were not much more than a cow path. Rexburg lies right in the middle of a lot of those old roads and their connection to other roads.
When you take our comfortable modern travel out of it, you can better understand why Rexburg is similar to Green River, Utah, another town that's both remote and in the middle of a lot of old corridors that lead to other places.
An outlaw or someone who was wanted by the law would avoid Idaho Falls more often than not. I.F. has always had a big tough police force that is constantly on the lookout for both. Rexburg lies close to both the Wyoming and Montana borders, and close to the passes that outlaws used as much as present day people use.
It's really remarkable that the town never had a shootout that resulted in a death for the very first time in 2015. Every other city has had more than one, and several have had many more than one. The reason why Rexburg went so long still mystify me, and I was only guessing on some of the causes. I really know nothing as to why this is true.
Most of my surprise comes from how wild, wooly, and rough all of the Upper Snake River Valley once was during my years growing up here in the 50s and 60s.
I grew up hearing stories from my grandparents and their generation, folks who were born here in the late 1880s to ca.1900, and their accounts were even wilder than the times I observed myself. There were a lot of people living throughout the valley who died from violence, especially manslaughter killings. Serious robberies that created gunfights and such were pretty darned common everywhere.
Rexburg is far from being isolated. In fact, before the roads that are here now even existed, an outlaw escaping the law by horse, on foot, by rail or by automobile would take roads that most folks now don't even know they once existed, and were not much more than a cow path. Rexburg lies right in the middle of a lot of those old roads and their connection to other roads.
When you take our comfortable modern travel out of it, you can better understand why Rexburg is similar to Green River, Utah, another town that's both remote and in the middle of a lot of old corridors that lead to other places.
An outlaw or someone who was wanted by the law would avoid Idaho Falls more often than not. I.F. has always had a big tough police force that is constantly on the lookout for both. Rexburg lies close to both the Wyoming and Montana borders, and close to the passes that outlaws used as much as present day people use.
It's really remarkable that the town never had a shootout that resulted in a death for the very first time in 2015. Every other city has had more than one, and several have had many more than one. The reason why Rexburg went so long still mystify me, and I was only guessing on some of the causes. I really know nothing as to why this is true.
Mike,
I laughed about the cow trail roads. Yes, we are thinking the same areas and criminals did go north to hide.
None of my relatives were that far north. I mostly remember reading the weekly columns Paul Menser wrote about what happened 100, 75, 50 and 25 yrs. ago. I don't know the details like you do, since I read about what happened.
My hunch is there may have been deaths in Madison County or the smaller areas, but not in the city of Rexburg for a combination of factors. Let me see if this delicate enough: I don't know if the Rexburg PD of earlier generations aggressively pursued criminals. Madison County Deputies would be responsible for the Sagebrush and Cow Trails. And Jefferson County Deputies. Look at what is finally being exposed in 1J now.
With Rigby and Rexburg being much smaller, they didn't have the manpower and perhaps the motivation, given some factors. Times sure have changed as I think about some 1J murders the last two years.
I do agree there were gun fights up that way. I think the Rexburg P.D. was limited perhaps by the county, but probably more by choice what they would work on. Snow Patrol has always been a biggie on their list. I mean issuing tickets to parked cars. Besides, how much could Ricks College grow if Rexburg, which use to be smaller or the same as Blackfoot, had crime sprees and murders?
Perhaps in warmer weather, although the sun has been great this week, you and I should meet at those old railroad tracks and hunt for stolen goods. There absolutely is a history to the Upper Valley that hasn't been fully told. But I do believe the Rexburg PD had their ways to not engage with criminals.
Sadly, yet fortunately, it's good the officer involved had been trained in current police work. Maybe you can find out when the Rexburg P.D. formed from this link (good luck ) Rexburg Police Department
Interesting discussion.
MSR
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Thanks for Moving This Sage
So there were 2-3 movie theaters there.
I'd Bet on Madison County
Yes, we are thinking the same areas and criminals did go north to hide.
I mean issuing tickets to parked cars. Besides, how much could Ricks College grow if Rexburg, which use to be smaller or the same as Blackfoot, had crime sprees and murders? 
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