Gila River police officer killed in the line of duty wanted to make his father proud

Joshua Briese, 23, was a Gila River police officer who died June 1 when he was shot while responding to a disturbance call in Santan (District 4) of the Gila River Indian Community.

According to a Facebook post from the Gila River Police Department, Briese had been with the department for less than a year and was still completing on-the-job training.

“It was a big surprise,” said Briese’s step-grandmother Helen Briese. “He was a sweet boy. I loved him.”

Joshua Briese, Gila River Police Officer

Helen Briese told the Arizona Republic that she last spoke to Briese on Oct. 10, his birthday. “He was a wonderful person,” she said.

Briese always wanted to be a police officer, she said. In 2019, when he was 18, Briese told KULR News he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, former Yellowstone County Sheriff David Briese.

According to the sheriff’s office, David Briese was also killed in the line of duty in November 2006 in a one-car crash on Interstate 90 near King Avenue West in Billings, Montana, while responding to a 911 call for an officer dealing with a belligerent, impaired driver.

After his father died, Briese told KULR, he moved to Rapid City, South Dakota, with his older brother, mother and stepfather. But things were tough at home, he said. At age 16, Briese said, he was emancipated and moved back to Billings.

Those who were left to fend for themselves at a young age had more responsibilities – they had to go to school and work to pay the bills.

In an interview with KULR, Briese said he gets up at 2:30 a.m. and works at the airport for four hours before he has to go to class at Billings West High School.. But he also made time for extracurricular activities and was a member of the school’s cross-country team, KULR reported.

Briese told KULR he hoped his father thought he was doing a good job in life. Helen Briese said she believed he did, given what Briese had been through.

“He had a pretty hard life, but he made it,” said Helen Briese.

Another person died in the early morning shooting involving Briese, and four others, including another police officer, were injured.

Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen Roe Lewis called the incident “tragic.”

“I know I speak for our entire community when I say we mourn our fallen and injured police officers and every member of the community affected by such tragic violence,” Lewis said.

The Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office released a statement on Briese’s death:

“YCSO is heartbroken and cannot believe it when it received news this morning of the passing of Gila River, Arizona Police Officer Josh Briese, known to many of us as Joshie,” the statement said. “All we can do is God bless you and rest in peace. I know Dave and Josh are back together. They both left this world serving their community and doing what they loved. Rest in peace.”

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