The night that Rockwell City Police Officer Jamie Buenting died after suffering a gunshot wound, the whole state took notice.

For Greene County Sheriff Steve Haupert, it hit him hard losing a personal friend in law enforcement.  Sheriff Haupert says officer Buenting was a certified firearms instructor and taught the concealed carry safety classes for the county and fulfilled 90% of the requests to carry permits as well.

But for Sheriff Haupert, it was especially tough situation to be involved with.

“He is a personal friend of my son who lives in the same county (and) they did many things together and talked with each other every week, so I had a real personal connection with the family.  Course, Jamie’s dad Dan was a long-time police officer and now retired.  It’s just a real tough situation.”

He comments that they train for all sorts of situations and strategies but there are some things that happen such as loss of life associated with law enforcement and they are taught to minimize casualties.

However, Sheriff Haupert points out that it was gratifying seeing so many law enforcement personnel wanting to help and be there for officer Buenting.