Joshua Briese grew up in Montana, hoping to join law enforcement like his father. He remained undeterred even after his father died on duty at the age of 38 in 2006.
“I actually had to try and talk him out of it a few times, but he had his heart set,” Capt. Kent O’Donnell of the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office in Billings, Montana, told azfamily.com. “He wanted to be a police officer, just to make his dad proud.”
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Briese achieved just that, recently joining the Gila River Police Department, located south of Phoenix, as a tribal officer. He was still in field training, and he had only been with the department for less than a year when he died on the job Saturday, just like his father.
“They’re probably driving around patrolling up there in heaven together,” said O’Donnell, “and it makes us smile a little bit knowing that they’re together again.”
The Gila River Indian Community reports that the 23-year-old tragically lost his life while responding to a reported disturbance at a house party in the early hours of Saturday morning.
On Saturday night, tribal council authorities promptly imposed a temporary ban on all house gatherings in the village.
Additional gunshots, according to police, injured Briese and another tribal police officer. The second cop suffered significant injuries but survived, according to the police.
Authorities reported that four other individuals sustained injuries, one of whom subsequently passed away. Authorities did not immediately identify the remaining victims.
Two suspects in the shooting, a man and a boy, were in custody, according to the FBI in Phoenix, but they provided no other details.
O’Donnell stated that he spoke with Briese, also known as “Joshie” by friends and family, only a few weeks ago.
“I’m sad I won’t get to see him grow up because he had a very promising future,” O’Donnell told the news channel.
In a second statement, the Yellow County Sheriff’s Office stated that Briese and his father, David, “left this world serving their community and doing what they loved.”
In November 2006, while en route to provide backup for an officer dealing with a combative impaired motorist, David Briese, a Yellowstone County deputy, lost his life in an automobile accident.
