BOZEMAN — Jeremy Shea speaks through tears as he remembers his half-brother Nevada Krinkee, a police officer in Sheridan, Wyoming, formerly of Bozeman who was killed in the line of duty on Tuesday.
“I don't know. I can't think of what to say right now,” Jeremy says. “He was a great guy, always wanting to serve."
Jeremy and Nevada grew up in Bozeman, where Jeremy still lives today. He spoke to us over the phone about his baby brother’s death. Jeremy is 18 years older than Nevada and says he got the opportunity to watch Nevada grow up.
“Yeah, I think he was four when we got married, so he was in our wedding. I remember he came out with my grandparents and fell out of the camper and got a big gash on his head, so he has stitches for our wedding,” he says.
Jeremy also mentioned that as kids living in Bozeman, “He didn't live far down the road from us and him and his sister would always come over and play rock band and he was just a good kid, all around.”
Nevada graduated from Bozeman High School in 2009. Jeremy says Nevada always knew he wanted to serve and help people, so he joined the Army and was deployed to Afghanistan where part of his job was to protect children walking to and from school.
Jeremy says that after Nevada's time in the army, “He came back to Bozeman to figure out what he wanted to do and he wanted to be a police officer; all he wanted to do was serve and help people.”
Nevada joined the Sheridan Police Department in 2017 and was promoted to corporal in 2018. He became a sergeant in April 2022. Jeremy says when Nevada wasn’t working to help people, he loved playing video games, being a shooting instructor for fellow officers, and most of all, Jeremy says he loved his dogs.
"He had several dogs plus his wife, she was on the force, so she had a couple dogs plus the K9, so they loved their dogs," says Jeremy.
Nevada leaves behind his wife, Karla, who also works for the Sheridan Police Department, their baby girl, and a huge family that loved and cared for him. Jeremy says even though Nevada knew his job was dangerous, there was nothing else he’d rather be doing.
“He loved his family, but he loved his job.”
