BENJAMIN, Utah - Family and friends are mourning the death of a Utah County Sheriff's sergeant Thursday evening.
Sheriff's Sgt. Cory Wride was shot and killed in his police vehicle along SR-73 at around 1 p.m. Thursday. Utah County Sheriff Jim Tracy said Wride pulled up behind a vehicle that looked "either abandoned or disabled" on the side of the road.
"From our preliminary investigation, it appears that Sgt. Wride was ambushed at that time and he was shot in the vehicle and he did not survive his wounds," Tracy said.
Wride was a nearly 20-year veteran of the Utah County Sheriff's Office. He leaves behind a wife and five children.
Neighbors in Wride's rural community of Benjamin, Utah County, gathered in front of his home to remember the deputy.
"He's a nice guy. He's really nice. He loved his family. They're really close. He was going to help someone and they shot him. That shouldn't even happen. He was trying to help someone," said neighbor Ali Beck, who was friends with Wride's teenage daughter.
Wride served the Eagle Mountain community, and the city tweeted their condolences on Thursday evening.
"Today we lost a valued member of our Eagle Mountain family. Sgt. Cory Wride served our community for many years, and we are devastated by this loss. We are grieved by this senseless act, and we mourn with his family, friends, and fellow deputy officers," Eagle Mountain City tweeted.
A fund has been set up to help the Wride family pay for funeral expenses. Click here for more information.
