Shooting death case ongoing

RIVERTON -- Law enforcement authorities remain tight-lipped about the death of 34-year-old William Stewart of Lander.

They've said only that he was killed Sunday morning by a gunshot wound to the chest at a residence near Milford.

Investigators on the case from the Fremont County Sheriff's Office have yet to release details regarding the case, saying it remains under investigation.

The cause of death was released by Fremont County Coroner Ed McAuslan. He based his assessment on preliminary findings of an autopsy conducted Monday by a forensic pathologist at the McKee Medical Center in Loveland, Colo.

The shooting happened around 4 on Sunday morning at a residence on North Fork Road, according to the sheriff's call log.

When asked to verify a published report that a woman was also shot during the incident, sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Jerry Evagelatos would not confirm nor deny the allegation. He said that the information was not released by his department.

Lander elementary locks down

LANDER -- A Lander elementary school went to lockdown status Thursday afternoon after officials heard a student brought a gun to school.

The student was located and several .22-caliber cartridges were found in the pupil's backpack, but no gun.

The lockdown at South Elementary was lifted around 2:30 p.m. after Lander police conducted a search of each classroom.

All emergency procedures went according to plan, Fremont County School District 1 Superintendent Paige Fenton Hughes said.

"Everything went according to protocol and we're happy to have a good resolution to this," she said in a media release. "The search was precautionary."

According to school district protocol, after 911 was called, the school administration office was notified, then a call was made to the school's bus barn and to the other schools in the district advising that the school should be avoided until the lockdown was lifted.

Trail plan receives update

DENVER -- The U.S. Forest Service has amended a comprehensive plan for the 3,100-mile Continental Divide National Scenic Trail being built through five states.

The Forest Service said Wednesday that the amendments update a 1985 plan to provide a framework for deciding uses of the trail. The agency received 8,000 comments from the public on the plan.

Forest Service spokeswoman Janelle Smith said the intent is to accommodate as many uses as possible and to do that at the local level.

A study of a Continental Divide trail was approved in 1968, and the trail was established by Congress in 1978. About two-thirds of the trail is complete. It runs through parts of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico.