Officers Fall in the line of Duty
Corporal James Moulson
Corporal Phillip Anderson
Taken from the files of News paper and Television
January 3rd, 2001
EDEN, Idaho - Two Jerome County officers and a suspect were killed in a shooting Wednesday night in Eden after several officers attempted to serve a search warrant at the suspect's house. The two officers were Jerome County Sheriff's deputies James Moulson, 30, and Phillip Anderson, 23.
According to Idaho State Police, the officers were attempting to serve a narcotics search warrant at around 8:30 p.m.
Sheriff Jim Weaver was hit in the shooting but not hurt. No further details were available concerning Weaver.
Jerome and Twin Falls county deputies, Idaho State Police troopers, and Jerome and Hazelton city police officers, roped off the home and a surrounding city block for the investigation.
Moulson served on the force for four years. He left a wife, Amy, and a nine-month-old son Derek.
Anderson was on the force for two years and was unmarried.
"The Funeral"
Tuesday January 9th, 2001
TWIN FALLS, Idaho -- Officers came to Idaho from as far away as Indiana on Tuesday, wearing the blues, grays, browns and greens of their respective departments. By official estimates, more than 2,000 of them came to the funeral of Jerome County Sheriff's Deputies Jim Moulson and Phillip Anderson Tuesday in Twin Falls.
From detectives in street clothes to officers in dress uniforms with gold braids, they wore black bands over their badges and blue ribbons with gold letters: "Gone, but not forgotten. Corporal James Moulson. Corporal Phillip Anderson."
They came from nearly every Idaho county and from every neighboring state -- from cities as distant as Seattle, Las Vegas, Anaheim, Indianapolis. Many came in a motorcade that began at the Oregon line. There were so many of them that the service in the gym at the College of Southern Idaho was delayed 20 minutes waiting for them all to file inside. The 3,200-seat gym was filled to capacity.
"We're all brothers, whether we work in Jerome or Boise or another state," said Sheriff Jim Weaver of Jerome County, where Moulson and Anderson were K-9 officers. "Jim and Phil were great men, and it's wonderful to see this kind of support for them."
The miles-long police motorcade passed through Boise early Tuesday, where it was joined by a hearse carrying Anderson's remains. Anderson grew up in Meridian and Kuna and was a 1996 graduate of Kuna High School. From Boise, the caravan continued east, picking up officers en route. On the Perrine Bridge, high above the Snake River Canyon, local motorcycle officers met their counterparts from other cities and escorted them into Twin Falls.
Moulson and Anderson were killed in an exchange of gunfire last Wednesday evening while serving a search warrant in the farming community of Eden, about 15 minutes east of Twin Falls. Weaver was one of nine officers, including Moulson and Anderson, who served the warrant.
"I was proud to be with you in the last moments of your lives," Weaver said from a flower-bedecked dais beneath banners proclaiming CSI's volleyball championships. "Well done."
About 50 K-9 officers and their dogs attended a graveside service, which included a 21-gun salute and taps, punctuated by barking.
Moulson and Anderson's dogs, Chug and Cruiser, sat quietly at the memorial service, beside the flag-draped coffins of their masters. Weaver said one of the dogs would be retired and the other adopted by another officer, possibly from a different sheriff's department.
"It was a very impressive service," said Sgt. Elliot Sokamota, who wore the dress green of the Multnomah County (Ore.) Sheriff Department's honor guard. "We do quite a few of these services, and it's nice to see this kind of community support. You don't see this in the larger cities."
More than 50 Boise Police Department officers attended. "These never get any easier," Boise Police Sgt. Rich Fuhriman said. "This one is especially sad because it's two officers from such a small town." "One of these services is too many," Boise patrolman Jermaine Galloway added. "We're here to show our support for the families and the community."
The Boise Police Department's bagpipe and drum corps provided much of the funeral's music. "It's becoming a tradition," bagpiper Ron Lopez said. "We're honored to be a part of it, but it's so sad, especially when you think of all that police officers do for us and how young these two were. They were literally cut down in their prime."
Moulson, 30, left a wife, Amy, and 10-month-old-son, Derek. Of the dozens of floral arrangements in the gym and at the cemetery, the most moving was a heart made of white carnations and red roses, with a single word in gold letters on red ribbon: "Da da" -- one of the few words Derek Moulson knows.
Gov. Dirk Kempthorne gave Amy Moulson a handwritten letter to read to Derek when he is old enough to understand. The governor didn't share its contents, but a spokesman said it called the baby's father a hero. Moulson and Anderson, Kempthorne said, gave their lives for "a perfect cause -- justice. ... We've lost two Idaho heroes. Cpl. Jim Moulson and Cpl. Phil Anderson made the ultimate sacrifice ... so that we might feel safe and more secure in our homes with our families.
"... Last week, the people of Jerome County found that things like this do happen to nice people in nice communities in nice states. None of us is immune. ... The next time you see an officer in the restaurant or the grocery store or just walking down the street, say, 'Thank you. I appreciate you.' "
In a statement entered in the Congressional Record, U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson called Moulson and Anderson "two of the best. Their deaths leave many questioning why and how this could have happened."
Members of the Ada County Sheriff's Office's honor guard posted the colors at the Twin Falls memorial service -- their first such honor.
"The Jerome sheriff talked to our sheriff because he thought it would be better if another department did it," Ada County Sgt. Patrick Calley said. "Shortly after Mark Stall was shot, our sheriff said we needed an honor guard from Ada County to do this sort of thing. This is our first time for an officer killed in the line of duty."
Friends and relatives remembered Moulson and Anderson as dedicated, caring officers who loved the Idaho outdoors and found joy in their work and their families. "Jim never had a bad day, he never had a bad thing to say about another person, and he always had something good to say to everybody," Jerome County Deputy Ray Chatterton said.
Kiel VanInwegen, Anderson's uncle, said he was "told that Phil died courageously and with honor. This was no surprise to us, as he lived courageously and with honor."
The turnout -- it took half an hour for the hundreds of officers and police cars to pass through town en route to the cemetery -- didn't surprise Master Officer Rick Marquette, of the Kennewick, Wash., Police Department. "It's a bonding," he said. "It's sad, but things like this happen. Everybody who puts on a badge knows when he goes to work in the morning that he might not come home that night."
A memorial service for Anderson will be conducted at 11 a.m. Thursday at Kuna High School.
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