Officer Adam Crist

On August 21, 2010, at 2300 hours, Boise Police Officers Adam Crist, Casey Hancuff, and Jason Rose responded to an active shooter call. A frantic woman told Dispatch that someone was shooting at her door. The shooter then entered her home and desperate screams were heard. Officers Crist, Hancuff, and Rose made entry into the dangerous homicidal shooting environment where they encountered two people with gunshot wounds. The male suspect was down with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The victim was down with gunshot wounds to both legs. The femoral artery in her left leg had been splayed open by a bullet and she had sustained massive bleeding. Unable to find a pulse on the unresponsive woman, the three officers refused to give up on her. Officer Crist recognized the need for a tourniquet so he, Officer Hancuff, and Officer Rose fashioned two sets of hobbles into tourniquets and applied them while elevating the woman's legs. Officer Crist held the victim's hands and encouraged her. Miraculously, the victim responded to their life-saving efforts by regaining consciousness, motioning with her hands, and eventually talking. Officer Crist was able to gain valuable intelligence on the suspect while Officers Hancuff and Rose maintained the vital pressure on the tourniquets. Several times they fought for the woman as they watched the life flow out of her. With total commitment, Officers Rose and Hancuff held the tourniquets tight as they sped toward the hospital in the ambulance. Both paramedics and hospital staff stated that without the dedicated actions and quick thinking of Officers Crist, Hancuff, and Rose the victim would have died at the scene from massive blood loss. With the knowledge and belief that an active shooter was present, Officer Crist willingly entered the homicidal shooting environment at great risk of death and serious injury to himself. His knowledge and complete commitment to the victim averted her death. His actions are in the highest tradition of Idaho law enforcement and are a credit upon himself, the Boise Police Department and Idaho Law Enforcement officers.