{"id":30325,"date":"2023-11-29T19:27:23","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T02:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/update-sgt-michael-moran-identified-as-cortez-police-officer-killed-wednesday\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:17:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:17:06","slug":"update-sgt-michael-moran-identified-as-cortez-police-officer-killed-wednesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/update-sgt-michael-moran-identified-as-cortez-police-officer-killed-wednesday\/","title":{"rendered":"Update: Sgt. Michael Moran identified as Cortez police officer killed Wednesday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Moran\"
Moran<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Cortez Police Sgt. Michael Moran has been identified as the police officer who died early Wednesday afternoon after being shot during a traffic stop on South Broadway, according to the Cortez Police Department.<\/p>\n

Shots rang out during a traffic stop on South Broadway about 11:25 a.m. near Handy Mart, injuring Moran after he initiated the stop.<\/p>\n

The suspects fled and were located at the 7500 block on Highway 160\/491 near Aces Storage, 1\u00bd miles away.<\/p>\n

There, gunfire was exchanged between the suspects and police. One suspect died at the scene and the second was taken into custody.<\/p>\n

Moran, 46, served his country as a Marine for nine years, including two tours in Iraq, before joining the Cortez Police Department in 2012, the police department said in a news release about 5:10 p.m. Moran became a K-9 handler in 2016.<\/p>\n

\"Police
Police tape marks off the crime scene of a Cortez Police Department shooting on Wednesday in west Cortez near the Handy Mart, at 806 S. Broadway. (Jerry McBride\/The Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Law
Law enforcement agencies investigate the scene at Aces Storage of a shooting suspect who shot a Cortez Police Department officer earlier on Wednesday in west Cortez near the Handy Mart, at 806 S. Broadway. (Jerry McBride\/The Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A Cortez Police Department officer was taken to the emergency room at Southwest Memorial Hospital on Wednesday after he was shot during a traffic stop near the Handy Mart, at 806 S. Broadway. (Jerry McBride\/The Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cHe was most proud of his canine partner Otto who served by his side until retiring in 2020. Sgt. Michael Moran will be remembered by his fellow officers for his dedication and sense of humor. He leaves behind two daughters, many friends and family,\u201d the police department said.<\/p>\n

A police escort <\/a>and a hearse left the hospital about 4 p.m.<\/p>\n

Flags in the area have been lowered to half-staff in support of the Cortez Police Department, according to the statement. This is the first death of a Cortez police officer in the line of duty since officer Dale Claxton was killed <\/a>during a traffic stop in 1998.<\/p>\n

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis released a statement in response to news of Moran\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am saddened to hear of the tragic passing of the Cortez police officer in the line of duty. My thoughts and prayers are with their family, as well as the Cortez Police Department and the community during this time. This officer dedicated their career to serving and protecting their community,\u201d Polis said.<\/p>\n

Montezuma-Cortez School District RE-2 announced at 11:56 a.m. that it went into \u201csecure\u201d status. At 12:16 p.m. it announced that school operations had returned to normal.<\/p>\n

The Colorado State Patrol and Cortez Police Department responded to the scene and managed traffic, detouring southbound drivers to San Juan Drive and south on Hartman Road to continue south on South Broadway to U.S. 160\/491.<\/p>\n

Travel was further restricted about 2:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The
The Cortez Police Department manages and detours traffic at the Handy Mart, at 806 S. Broadway. (The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Law
Law enforcement agencies investigate the scene at Aces Storage of a shooting suspect who shot a Cortez Police Department officer earlier on Wednesday in west Cortez near the Handy Mart, at 806 S. Broadway. (Jerry McBride\/The Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A hearse carries the body of a Cortez Police Department officer on Wednesday who was killed in the line of duty earlier in the day in west Cortez near the Handy Mart, at 806 S. Broadway. (Jerry McBride\/The Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A procession of first responders lead and follow the hearse that is carrying the body of a Cortez Police Department officer on Wednesday. He was killed in the line of duty earlier in the day in west Cortez near the Handy Mart, at 806 S. Broadway. (Jerry McBride\/The Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The Cortez Police Department lowered their flags to half-staff on Wednesday after one of their officers was killed in the line of duty earlier in the day in west Cortez. (Jerry McBride\/The Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The Cortez Police Department lowered their flags to half-staff on Wednesday after one of their officers was killed in the line of duty earlier in the day. (Jerry McBride\/The Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sgt.
Sgt. Moran and his K-9 Otto. (Cortez Police Department)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sgt. Moran was a K-9 handler and a Marine <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[386,21,168,28,60,29,51,390],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-30325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-breaking-news","tag-cortez","tag-crime","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter","tag-police","tag-shooting"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30325"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81042,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30325\/revisions\/81042"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30325"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=30325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}