Former AG Fox Comments on Wade Palmer after Bertsch Sentencing
One of the Montana officials most involved in responding to the tragic shooting of Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Wade Palmer was now former Attorney General Tim Fox.
KGVO reached out to Fox for his response after the Bertsch sentencing on Wednesday.
“When I first learned of the shooting, I made my way down to Salt Lake City, to be there at the hospital with Wade and of course, Lindsey,” said Fox. “It was a long haul there too for a lot of people, but the silver lining was the number of people who came out in support of Kasey Blanchard, who was also at the same hospital in Salt Lake and I got to know him and his partner. And of course, unfortunately, Shelley Hayes died as a result of the shooting and ultimately so did Julie Blanchard, Kasey's mom.”
Fox still remembers the huge outpouring of support for those killed and so gravely wounded after the incident in March of 2019.
“The outpouring of support from the Missoula community, the broader Montana community and of course, law enforcement, has been nothing short of phenomenal,” he said. “I think that more than anything, what has helped Wade and Lindsey for sure move on and get stronger and I hope Kasey Blanchard and his family have felt that and certainly the Hayes family.”
Fox asks the people of Missoula and our listeners to keep all the victims of that tragedy in their prayers.
“I would just say to your listeners, please pray for the families that were affected, and make sure that you do your part to support our wonderful first responders,” he said. “Not just in the Missoula area but across Montana.”
Fox said this past weekend he had the opportunity to meet with Wade Palmer and his wife Lindsey at a special hunting event.
“I just had a very nice dinner at a lodge down in the Paradise Valley with a number of veterans and also Trooper Palmer and his wife, Lindsey and one of their daughters,” he said. “It was something that Big Hearts under the Big Sky, which is part of the Montana Trappers Association, arranged. It's a nonprofit that seeks to do some nice things like taking people out on some hunts and Wade was able to harvest an elk, a really nice bull on the day before the dinner.”
Palmer’s wife Lindsey testified on Tuesday at the sentencing hearing of Jonathan Bertsch.