On this
date, December 18, 1995, ex-bailiff George “Nick”
Kirk died from a heart attack. He was shot and wounded by Ronnie Lee Gardner on April 2, 1985. Justice was
served 15 years later, when the killer was put to death by firing squad on June 18, 2010.
Let us
hear from his loved ones:
INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/457665/EX-BAILIFF-WHO-WAS-SHOT-BY-GARDNER-DIES.html?pg=all
EX-BAILIFF WHO
WAS SHOT BY GARDNER DIES
By Amy Donaldson, Staff Writer
Nick Kirk
never had problems with his heart, but it was a heart attack that killed the
ex-bailiff shot by one of Utah's most infamous death-row inmates.
George
"Nick" Kirk, 69, died Monday from a heart attack. His widow and wife
of 46 years, ValDean, said she knows why her husband's heart failed
him."Just my personal opinion is that it was probably the stress of the
pain, and not being able to do the things he thought he should do,"
ValDean Kirk said.
The pain she
spoke of was inflicted by notorious prison inmate Ronnie Lee Gardner during an
1985 escape attempt. A woman slipped Gardner a gun as prison officers brought
him into 3rd District Court to be arraigned on homicide charges.
Once in the
courtroom, Gardner began shooting, hitting and killing attorney Michael
Burdell. Kirk, a bailiff for then-Judge James Sawaya, was on another floor of
the five-story building when the shooting started.
ValDean Kirk
said her husband heard about it from a woman on an elevator who was screaming
that someone had been shot. Sawaya and ValDean Kirk say it was Nick Kirk's
concern for Sawaya that sent him running towards the armed man as others ran
from Gardner.
"I
wasn't in the building at the time," Sawaya said. "I was on my way to
work. I think Nick heard about the shooting, and he ran down there knowing I
was on my way in to work. I think his intent was to protect me. I'll be forever
grateful to him for his loyalty."
Nick Kirk ran
down several flights of stairs followed by several other men. He opened the
door to the stairway, and, according to his widow, "There stood Ronnie Lee
Gardner pointing a gun at him. He shut the door behind him so the others
couldn't get out. (Gardner) shot him."
He'd been
working in Sawaya's courtroom for four years when the shooting occurred. He
missed months of work and suffered pain the rest of his life, his widow said.
"He was
in constant pain for the last 11 years," ValDean Kirk said. "He was
bitter, not toward the sheriff's office, but the county commission and the
state."
Kirk was
bitter because the state and county wouldn't pay him more than $40,000 in
compensation for mental suffering from the trauma, his widow said. Instead the
commission approved a $6,000 payment.
"He
liked fishing, hunting and bowling, but he wasn't able to do a lot of that
after the shooting," she said. "He felt like if the guards had done
their jobs, he wouldn't have been shot. He went down there to make sure the
judge didn't come inside the building."
Kirk retired
in 1992, just a couple of months before Sawaya retired. ValDean Kirk said the
two men kept in close contact even after their retirements.
"Nick
was a good friend, and we had a close relationship for the 10 years we worked
together," Sawaya said. "He was just a kind, considerate person. He
was very loyal and very kind to me. We thought a lot of each other."
Kirk is
survived by his wife, four children, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Funeral services are scheduled for Friday at 2 p.m. at McDougal Funeral Home,
4330 S. Redwood Road. A viewing will be held Thursday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and
Friday from 1 p.m. until 1:40 p.m. He was preceded in death by his daughter,
Debra.
QUOTE 1: George "Nick" Kirk, was a bailiff at the courthouse the day of Gardner's botched escape. Shot and wounded in the lower abdomen, Kirk suffered chronic health problems the rest of his life. Kirk's daughter, Tami Stewart, said before the execution she believed Gardner's death would bring her family some closure. "I think at that moment, he will feel that fear that his victims felt," she said.QUOTE 2: Barb Webb, daughter of Gardner victim Nick Kirk, sobbed when news of the execution came. "I'm so relieved it's all over," she said, hugging her daughter, Mandi Hull. "I just hope my sister, who just passed away, and my father, and all of the other victims are waiting for his sorry ass. I hope they get to go down after him."QUOTE 3: "Everybody said it would be gruesome and it would affect me," said Jamie Stewart, the 27-year-old granddaughter of Salt Lake County sheriff's bailiff Nick Kirk. "But it wasn't bad whatsoever. You didn't see hardly any blood. He was dressed all in black. I just feel like justice has finally been served. He deserved it."AUTHOR: Loved one of George “Nick” Kirk - George “Nick” Kirk was shot and wounded by Ronnie Lee Gardner on April 2, 1985. Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by the firing squad in Utah on June 18, 2010.
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