They went in for battle in Ogden, Utah, and that’s what they got.  Radley Balko gives the TL;dr version:

But the gist is that a veteran who apparently grew marijuana to self-medicate for anxiety and depression apparently shot and killed one cop and wounded several others during a nighttime raid on his home. This is the same narcotics task force, by the way, that shot and killed a man wielding a golf club five seconds after breaking down his door during a botched meth raid last year. That cop was forgiven for his mistake. Heat of battle, volatile situation, mistakes were made—you know the drill.

They don’t call it the War on Drugs for nothing. The problem with wars is that there are casualties.  Most of the time, the dead and wounded aren’t in blue. This time they were.  It would be a terrible waste for an officer to die in vain, and so the marketing machine cranks up to put death to its highest and best use.
 

 
The agents are “heroes.” The agents were “protecting the public.” The argument made by DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank Smith is clear:

“It’s not a legalization issue, it’s not an immigration issue, it’s a public safety issue. If someone is willing to shoot it out with police, who is self-medicating on marijuana, what’s to say he’s not willing to walk out his house and start shooting his neighbors?” Smith says.

What’s to say he’s not happy to lead a quiet and peaceful life in his own house, minding his own business and being kind to children and animals?  But then, we’re attuned to rational arguments, and the ridiculous logical flaw inherent in Agent Smith’s statement is obvious.

For people not so familiar with logic, or who don’t care to think that hard, or who will leap to an emotional conclusion upon hearing that an agent was killed by the “shooter” won’t give much thought to the fact that the Ogden army veteran, Matthew Stewart, was bothering anybody when the battle began.  He didn’t ask for the battle. He didn’t do anything that called for a battle.  And yet the battle was brought to him.

But as one might well expect, this isn’t the end of the story, but just the beginning.  From the Chicago Tribune :

“This is a very significant event, something that I don’t know that the state has ever experienced something of this magnitude,” Smith told reporters. “There’s a lot of lives affected, a lot of families affected.”

Stewart will be charged with capital murder, which could lead to a sentence of death following a conviction, the prosecutor said.

He will also face eight counts of attempted aggravated murder and a charge of cultivation of marijuana, after he is released from hospital and booked into jail, Smith said.

An awful lot of carnage for a guy growing some pot and otherwise minding his own business. They need more, something to really make Stewart evil, and divert attention from the fact that the agents created this situation on their own, without any suggestion that Stewart, left alone, would harm anyone.  What to do?

I know. What about a bomb!

Investigators have confirmed explosive materials were found inside the home of Matthew Stewart over the weekend.

On Saturday, investigators came across some sort of bomb while searching Stewart’s home. The materials could not be removed, so officers detonated the materials Saturday evening.

“It was a really big boom,” said neighbor Kevin Wood. “I definitely heard it, and you knew it was something more than just the backfire of a car, or something falling over.”

Bombs = terrorist.  Terrorist is the most evil thing the government can call someone, and shuts down all reason immediately. Perfect. They don’t even have to call Stewart anything, because everybody knows that normal people don’t have bombs.  Except:

An ATF spokesman out of Denver told Fox 13 the materials found would not be classified as a bomb.

And yet the lede is that it’s a bomb.  One that made a really big boom, likely from the explosives used to blow up the “bomb” that wasn’t a bomb. 

What’s remarkable is that for all the damage, for all the harm, for all the blood spilled, we know almost no facts about why this happened, what happened, and what any of it means.  The little we do know is Matthew Stewart was growing pot in his him and otherwise minding his own business.  We know that latter because if he wasn’t, it would be a headline. If he posed any actual threat to anyone, the government would be screaming it from the rooftops. They aren’t. He didn’t.

Instead, we have the government dancing as fast as it can to justify the fact that there is a dead agent and four wounded agents all to shut down a guy growing marijuana for his own use.  And, of course, it’s all that bombing shooter Stewart’s fault.

A number of individuals were wounded as they were giving aid and trying to remove fallen officers from the scene,” Smith said during a news conference.

Despite rumors, he said he has seen no evidence to suggest any of the six officers were wounded by “friendly fire” or by fellow officers.

At least the widow of the fallen agent can take comfort that her husband was a hero.  And the public can sleep soundly at night knowing that they’ve been protected from the likes of Matthew Stewart.

Update:  And the plot thickens, as photos emerge of Stewart dressed like a terrorist!

“They also found a picture of the suspect dressed as a terrorist,” he said. “He was posing in a suicide bomber’s vest.”

Ha!  But,

But Stewart’s father said the photo actually shows his son in a Halloween costume that he wore three or four years ago.

“He was going to the party as Osama bin Laden,” the father explained.

If only Stewart had dressed as a gay Osama.  The possibilities are endless.