Community mourns loss of Red Lake Conservation Officer

By: News Director Larissa Donovan

RED LAKE– The community is mourning the sudden loss of a Red Lake Conservation Officer.

According to a release from the Red Lake Police Department, Officer Shannon “Opie” Bannon appeared to have suffered a medical emergency while responding to a suspected illegal harvesting report.

He was 48 years old, and had worked for the Red Lake Department of Public Safety since 2000.

Flags will be flown at half-staff in Officer Bannon’s honor in the Red Lake Nation until further notice, according to an announcement from Chairman Darrel Seki.

Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced. 


Larissa Donovan is the News Director for the stations of Paul Bunyan Broadcasting and has been, almost without interruption, since Election Day 2016. She covers all the beats in north-central Minnesota, such as local government, crime, education, environment and social issues. She studied communications at Bemidji State University. You can follow along with Larissa's live tweets of meetings and events on Twitter!


© 2020 HBI Radio Bemidji, LLC d/b/a Paul Bunyan Broadcasting 502 Beltrami Ave NW, Bemidji, MN 56601 This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area