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Tuesday, September 22, 2026 at 12:04 AM

Illumined Arms donates 10 ballistic shields to Lyon County Sheriff’s Office

Illumined Arms donates 10 ballistic shields to Lyon County Sheriff’s Office
Jerome “Jay” Hawkins of Illumined Arms and Sheriff Frank Hunewill show one of the ballistic shields donated last week to the Lyon County Sheriff's Office. Photos courtesy of Leah Wilkinson.


Courtesy Leah Wilkinson, pizenswitchtimes.com

Lyon County Sheriff Frank Hunewill and Commander Ed Kilgore gratefully accepted a generous gift on Feb. 16 from Jerome “Jay” Hawkins and Kenneth Crawford of Illumined Arms: 10 Level IIIA Ballistic Shields. These shields are bullet resistant for varying threat levels: they slow down the impact of a bullet.

Hunewill said that with the 10 ballistic shields (and dependent upon each situation), law enforcement officers county-wide could engage within 5-10 minutes versus waiting for up to an hour for the SWAT team to assemble & arrive. These ballistic shields will be distributed among the Sheriff’s substations in Lyon County and will be a vital tool to increase law enforcement’s capability to address emergent situations quickly and efficiently with regard to officer and citizenry safety.

Illumined Arms, along with Sierra Indoor/Outdoor Shooting Center in Reno are associated with Sierra Range Consultants. Their team includes people with background and experience in the military, law enforcement, private security, defensive tactics, critical incident management, de-escalation tactics, etc.

Prior to Illumined Arms approaching Hunewill about their desire to present Lyon County Sheriff’s Office with this donation, the Sheriff had been researching grant possibilities to acquire ballistic shields for officers. When Jay Hawkins and Ken Crawford approached Hunewill and Commander Ed Kilgore about making an equipment donation, the shields were what was requested. Ten ballistic shields were a very generous gift from Illumined Arms.


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