gun violence – The Denver Post https://www.denverpost.com Colorado breaking news, sports, business, weather, entertainment. Tue, 15 Apr 2025 23:45:01 +0000 en-US hourly 30 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8 https://www.denverpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/cropped-DP_bug_denverpost.jpg?w=32 gun violence – The Denver Post https://www.denverpost.com 32 32 111738712 Man charged in Denver teen’s murder sentenced to 30 years in prison https://www.denverpost.com/2025/04/15/jasmine-rivas-hernandez-murder-suspects-guilty-prison-denver/ Tue, 15 Apr 2025 18:32:12 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=7067479 The third and final suspect charged in a 17-year-old Denver girl’s 2022 shooting death pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, according to court records.

Jasmine Rivas-Hernandez was found shot in an alley in the 1500 block of Quebec Street on March 26, 2022. Robert Adam Solano, 36; Joseph Thomas Chavez, 28; and Shiloh Virginia Fresquez, 23, were arrested in connection with her death in January 2023.

Solano was the last suspect in the case to plead guilty, court records show. He was set to go to trial on charges of first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse at the end of April but on March 24 pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 30 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections.

He already is serving a 46-year prison sentence at the Limon Correctional Facility after he was convicted of second-degree murder in the July 2022 shooting death of 27-year-old Ramon Castro Contreras at a Lakewood car wash, according to 9News and state records.

Chavez was charged with being an accessory to a crime and abuse of a corpse in Rivas-Hernandez’s death and pleaded guilty to one felony count of being an accessory in November 2023. He was sentenced to four years in prison.

Fresquez was charged with being an accessory to a crime and pleaded guilty to attempting to influence a public servant, a felony, in June 2023. She was sentenced to five years in community corrections but is now in prison after violating the terms of her sentence, according to the district attorney’s office.

In a statement, Denver District Attorney John Walsh described Rivas-Hernandez’s death as a terrible, senseless tragedy.

“We hope that the conclusion of these cases gives Jasmine’s family and friends some a measure of comfort that justice has been served,” Walsh said.

Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.

]]>
7067479 2025-04-15T12:32:12+00:00 2025-04-15T17:45:01+00:00
Aurora drive-by shooting started with illegal alcohol sale, police say https://www.denverpost.com/2025/04/14/aurora-shooting-north-glen-park-police/ Mon, 14 Apr 2025 23:58:16 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=7066842 A drive-by shooting near North Glen Park that sent three people to the hospital Saturday night started when the 18-year-old suspect tried to rob the victims during an illegal alcohol sale, according to an Aurora Police Department arrest affidavit.

Christopher Campos-Anguiano was arrested on suspicion of five counts of attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault after police say he opened fire on a vehicle in the 15800 block of East 17th Place, injuring two adults and one child.

Aurora police responded to the area after one of the victims, a 34-year-old man, called 911 and said he had been shot.

The man was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He was still hospitalized and listed in good condition as of Monday night, according to HCA HealthONE Aurora officials.

A 34-year-old woman was driving when the same bullet struck her in the side, and a 12-year-old girl was hit by projectiles during the shooting, police said. Both were discharged from the hospital. Two other children in the car were not injured.

Victims and witnesses gave differing accounts of what happened before the shooting, according to the arrest affidavit.

The woman and one of the juveniles told police they were at the park so the juvenile could meet up with someone. When the juvenile saw Campos-Anguiano had a gun, alcohol and marijuana, they became uncomfortable and decided to leave, which the victims said is when Campos-Anguiano followed and shot at them.

But a witness who was in the car with Campos-Anguiano told police they were at the park to buy alcohol from the victims, and after the victims handed over the bottles, Campos-Anguiano sped away before they were paid and the victims followed in their car.

Campos-Anguiano is in custody at the Arapahoe County Detention Center on a $250,000 bail and is set to appear in court Thursday.

Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.

]]>
7066842 2025-04-14T17:58:16+00:00 2025-04-14T17:58:16+00:00
Former Clear Creek County sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 3 years in prison for killing Christian Glass https://www.denverpost.com/2025/04/14/andrew-buen-sentencing-christian-glass-police-killing/ Mon, 14 Apr 2025 16:37:59 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=7046516 With notecards held in shaking hands, Christian Glass’ mother stood before a Clear Creek County judge and pleaded for the deputy who killed her 22-year-old son to receive the maximum sentence.

“You going to prison isn’t going to make you a decent person, you going to prison isn’t going to bring back our son,” said Sally Glass, Christian’s mother, addressing the table where former Clear Creek County sheriff’s deputy Andrew Buen sat. “…But you’ve done so much damage, and you must not be able to get away with it.”

Sally Glass choked on her words throughout her speech to the judge during the Monday morning sentencing hearing, fighting back tears. At times, she completely stopped speaking to breathe deeply and compose herself, allowing silence to fill the courtroom.

Buen was convicted in February of criminally negligent homicide in the 2022 killing of Christian Glass after his first trial ended with the jury deadlocked on a murder charge. He was also convicted of reckless endangerment in that initial jury trial.

During the Monday morning hearing, Clear Creek County District Court Judge Catherine Cheroutes gave Buen the maximum possible sentence: three years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for the homicide charge and 120 days in jail for the reckless endangerment charge. The sentences will be served concurrently.

“Mr. Buen killed Christian Glass, and that deserves punishment,” Cheroutes said. “There’s no question in my mind that that is appropriate. … This was about power. This wasn’t a mistake.”

Cheroutes said the sentence needed to address “the needs of the victims and the community” while also serving as an example and promoting respect for the law.

Still, the maximum sentence doesn’t feel like enough and pales in comparison to the years Buen stole from his son, Christian’s father, Simon Glass, said.

“What a waste, what a terrible waste,” Simon Glass said.

He said the family is still struggling to come to terms with his son’s death and that talking about his son in the past tense feels “completely alien, like someone else is speaking.”

Simon Glass also struggled to complete his testimony before Cheroutes during the hearing. He said all of his once-happy memories of his son had been infused with pain — not just from the shooting, but from the drawn-out legal process and multiple trials.

“This entire trial has been incredibly difficult for all of us,” said Katie Glass, Christian’s sister. “I am not the same person I was before. I have anxiety attacks, I have depression, I can’t live my life like I used to be able to. And I just miss him.”

Buen shot and killed Christian Glass on June 10, 2022, after the 22-year-old called 911 for help when his car got stuck on a rock in Clear Creek County. Glass, who had marijuana and amphetamine in his system, was experiencing a mental health crisis and told dispatchers he was afraid of “skinwalkers” and people chasing him.

“He died terrified, in pain and all alone,” Katie Glass said. “That’s what hurts me the most.”

Seven law enforcement officers responded to Glass’s 911 call and spent more than an hour trying to coax him out of the car while he was experiencing delusions and paranoia. Eventually, Buen decided to break Glass’s window and pull him from the vehicle.

When officers broke the window, Glass grabbed a knife and officers fired a Taser at him and shot him with beanbags in an attempt to force him to drop it. Instead, Glass twisted in the driver’s seat and thrust the knife toward an officer standing next to the shattered window behind him, prompting Buen to shoot Glass five times. Glass then stabbed himself several times.

A separate grand jury investigation into the incident in 2022 found Glass had committed no crime, had acted in panic and self-defense before he was killed and had never actually come close to stabbing the officers. The involved law enforcement agencies agreed to a $19 million settlement with Glass’s parents in May.

Buen was fired after he was indicted.

“Christian deserved better, you all deserved better,” Buen said during the sentencing hearing, standing before the court in his orange prison jumpsuit. “This is something I have to live with.”

He said there were a million things he could have done better that night and he wishes that he had done differently.

Simon Glass called out the grief displayed by Buen, his attorney and his supporters as performative. He said the former deputy has continually shown “a complete lack of remorse throughout the trial.” Buen and his attorney insisted the regret was genuine.

The former deputy said that every time he speaks with his family, they talk about their favorite memories and time together.

“I can’t imagine sharing those moments and having the person that they’re about be gone,” Buen said.

Buen’s sister, Jennifer, said she’s had to deal with the “unbearable pain of watching your brother slip away.”

She and her daughter, Abigail, told the judge that Andrew Buen changed after the 2022 shooting. They said he was “beyond broken and hurt” and became distanced.

Buen’s mother and close friends also testified on behalf of the ex-deputy, asking the court for “mercy.”

Judge Cheroutes said she truly believed the group’s statements about Buen, that he is a kind, gentle and loyal person, but she said that all changed once he was in uniform and armed.

She said law enforcement officers must remember that they are public servants and their duty is not to violate their oath to serve and protect.

“And that is exactly what happened in this case,” she said.

Andrew Buen’s supervisor, former Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Sgt. Kyle Gould, was not there during the incident but permitted Buen to break into Glass’s car. Gould pleaded guilty to failing to intervene in the excessive force of another officer in 2023 and was sentenced to two years of probation.

An additional four law enforcement officers face charges of failing to intervene in the excessive force of another officer; their criminal cases are pending.

Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter.

]]>
7046516 2025-04-14T10:37:59+00:00 2025-04-14T14:17:41+00:00
Gun-control measure signed into law, a Trump defense fund and more from the Colorado legislature this week https://www.denverpost.com/2025/04/12/colorado-gun-control-trump-defense-fund-legislature/ Sat, 12 Apr 2025 12:00:22 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=7055500 Skeptical Gov. Jared Polis signs law blocking more grocery stores from selling hard liquor

Colorado lawmakers have succeeded in putting a cork in part of the state’s liquor laws after a skeptical Gov. Jared Polis signed a new measure blocking the state from issuing a certain type of license to grocery and drugstores.

Senate Bill 33, which passed the legislature with sizable bipartisan support, blocks the state from issuing any more liquor licenses to drugstores, which typically means grocery stores that also have pharmacies. Supporters had argued that the law would help support independent liquor stores as grocery stores — which can now sell wine and beer — move increasingly into alcohol sales.

The new law, signed by Polis on Thursday, means more grocery stores can’t expand into selling hard liquor.

Read more


Colorado budget cuts — including hit for roads, loss of health workers — cause heartburn as lawmakers close gap

The Colorado state budget is moving closer to finalization, but lawmakers have continued grappling over $1.2 billion in proposed cuts — with trims to a community health reimbursement program and to transportation funding among those drawing attention.

Proposed funding cuts for community health workers led to amendments and pleas from lawmakers looking to boost a workforce that one senator called a “lynchpin” for his rural district. Meanwhile, the proposed delay of tens of millions of dollars in highway funding has outside organizations worried about road conditions in coming years.

In both cases, critics warned that the proposed cuts and delays would cause more harm than savings. But the fiscal math doesn’t lie, budget writers counter — no matter how painful it makes the decisions.

Read more


Gov. Jared Polis signs sweeping gun law that adds requirements to buy certain semiautomatic weapons

Gov. Jared Polis signed a sweeping gun-control measure into law Thursday, the culmination of years of effort by advocates and progressive Democrats to limit the sale of high-powered semiautomatic weapons in Colorado.

Starting next summer, Coloradans will have to pass a background check and a training course before they can purchase a swath of semiautomatic firearms that include most of the guns known colloquially as assault weapons. Senate Bill 3 also prohibits the sale of bump stocks and rapid-fire trigger activators, which are firearm components that can increase a gun’s rate of fire.

The bill’s sponsors said it was intended to prevent future mass shootings and enforce the state’s existing prohibition on high-capacity magazines.

“We have been able to add to the safety of each and every Coloradan, especially when it comes to gun violence,” said Sen. Tom Sullivan.

Read more


Colorado lawmakers want to add body cameras to youth detention staff

Colorado lawmakers want to add body-worn cameras to staff working in the state’s juvenile detention centers and have backed off a request to substantially increase the number of beds available to house youth awaiting trial.

Legislators this week made drastic overhauls to House Bill 1146 to now include a pilot program in one youth detention facility and in one commitment facility that requires every staff member who is responsible for the direct supervision of youth to wear a body camera while interacting with them.

The program would be implemented from January 2026 through December 2028. The Colorado Department of Human Services would then recommend whether to continue and expand the program, or eliminate it.

The lawmakers’ request comes just weeks after a Denver Post investigation found widespread allegations of excessive force by staff in the state’s 14 juvenile detention facilities.

Read more


Colorado launches new “last resort” homeowners insurance policy

Colorado launched the state’s new, last-resort homeowners insurance program — known as the FAIR Plan — on Thursday even as this summer’s weather conditions could be ripe for severe hailstorms and wildfires.

Homeowners who can show they’ve been declined coverage by at least three commercial insurance companies can apply to purchase a FAIR Plan policy that would provide up to $750,000 toward the cost of replacing their home. Applicants will have the option to add coverage for wind and hail damage as well as theft and vandalism.

“This product is not intended to compete with the admitted market,” said Kelly Campbell, the FAIR Plan’s executive director. “It’s not intended to be the same as a basic homeowners policy.”

Read more


Polis threatens to veto bill addressing sentencing disparities between Colorado’s state and municipal courts

Gov. Jared Polis has threatened to veto a bill that would mandate Colorado’s municipal courts conform to state sentencing guidelines, the bill sponsors said.

House Bill 1147 would limit city courts from administering sentences that go beyond state limits for the same crimes. Legislative reforms in 2021 significantly reduced maximum penalties for a host of low-level, nonviolent crimes in Colorado’s state courts. But municipal courts, which operate individually and are not part of the state judicial system, were not included in the statute.

As a result, defendants in Colorado’s municipal courts can face much longer sentences than those in state court for the same petty offenses, The Denver Post previously found.

Read more


Colorado officials ready legal defense fund against Trump cuts and potential investigations

Colorado legislators are fast-tracking the creation of a $4 million fund to help Gov. Jared Polis’ office defend against actions by the Trump administration — including potential criminal investigations — as policymakers grapple with frozen funding and uncertainty from the federal government.

Using state money set aside to match federal dollars, House Bill 1321 would establish a fund to hire staff or contractors to defend against threats to federal funding that’s due to the state. The money could also be spent on reimbursing the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, should its attorneys have to defend state leaders and employees against legal and criminal proceedings filed against them. That would include potential inquiries from Congress.

Should the $4 million prove insufficient, the bill would also allow Polis’ office to accept gifts, grants and donations to add to the fund — meaning that the state could essentially use crowdfunding to defend itself and its funding streams from the Trump administration.

Read more


Colorado Democrats’ bid to launch TABOR lawsuit clears first committee

Democrats’ latest attempt to uproot a state constitutional amendment that severely limits officials’ spending authority narrowly passed its first committee vote Monday night.

House Joint Resolution 1023 would commit the Colorado General Assembly to suing the state over whether the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, passes federal constitutional muster. Voters passed TABOR as an amendment to the state constitution in 1992. Among other provisions, it restricts lawmakers from raising taxes without seeking voter approval and limits how much the state budget can grow annually.

This resolution, if it passes the full legislature, would result in a legal challenge based on whether TABOR’s restrictions are allowed under the U.S. Constitution’s requirement that all states have a republican form of representative government. TABOR, the resolution argues, restricts the state to a direct democracy when it comes to matters of spending.

Read more


Colorado lawmakers back new election requirements for officials appointed to vacant seats

Colorado lawmakers on Monday backed a pair of bills to reform the much-maligned process that helped seat nearly a quarter of the legislature, while rejecting a competing proposal that would’ve required changing the state constitution.

The two favored bills, which cleared an initial House committee, are essentially a package aimed at changing the vacancy-filling process: House Bill 1315 would allow lawmakers appointed via a vacancy committee to serve no more than a full session in the Capitol before standing for an election, while House Bill 1319 would enact similar election parameters for vacancy-appointed commissioners in large counties.

Both bills are bipartisan, and they passed the House’s State, Civic, Military and Veteran Affairs Committee in succession.

Read more


Tenants facing eviction could get jury trial under bill before Colorado legislature

In October, amid a record-breaking wave of eviction filings, the Colorado Supreme Court handed down a seismic decision: Tenants facing eviction have a right to contest their displacement in front of a jury.

The opinion — sparked by a lawsuit from a tenant challenging allegations from her landlord — marked a shift, at least for the relatively small number of cases that would qualify under its parameters. Eviction proceedings are often dispatched in rapid succession, with relatively few tenants defended by lawyers and county judges typically denying requests for jury trials.

Then, in December, the court reversed itself. In a move that one housing lawyer said he’d never seen before, the court voluntarily withdrew the opinion because of its new understanding of an underlying fact in the case — how the tenant had been served her eviction notice.

The court then demurred on the deeper question about tenants’ access to jury trials. That question, the justices wrote, should actually be addressed by the legislature.

Read more


Budget week part 2: A flurry of election reforms and more this week in the Colorado legislature

It’s Budget Crunch: Part II in the state Capitol this week, as the state budget and several dozen spending measures hit the House.

The proposed budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year, which starts in July, cleared the state Senate in perfunctory fashion last week. Now it begins what will likely be a more tense journey through the House. That means there will be few committee meetings on this side of the Capitol as House members spend most of the week debating the budget — known as the “long bill” — and its cluster of 60-some related measures, known as “orbitals.”

The long bill is, well, long, and the orbitals revolve around it. The legislature is a clever place.

If all goes to plan, the budget will be on the House floor Wednesday, Thursday and — if need be — Friday for a parade of amendment proposals from Democrats and Republicans alike. It’ll then likely go to a conference committee of House and Senate legislators to resolve amendments made in each chamber before going to Gov. Jared Polis for passage into law.

Read more

Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.

]]>
7055500 2025-04-12T06:00:22+00:00 2025-04-11T20:43:37+00:00
Weld County man sentenced to 156 years in prison for shooting at police in 2021 https://www.denverpost.com/2025/04/11/levi-miller-guilty-sentenced-shooting-at-eaton-police/ Fri, 11 Apr 2025 16:54:26 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=7054165 A Weld County man was sentenced this week to more than 150 years in prison for firing at Eaton police officers in 2021.

A jury on Tuesday convicted Levi Miller, 34, on two counts of attempted first-degree murder after deliberation, two counts of first-degree assault and four counts of attempted first-degree murder with extreme indifference, according to a news release from Weld County District Attorney’s Office.

Weld County Judge Audrey Galloway sentenced Miller to 156 years in prison on Wednesday.

Miller was arrested in 2021 after he fired more than 30 rounds at two police officers who were responding to a domestic dispute call at Miller’s home in the 1200 block of Aspen Court in Eaton on Sept. 24, 2021. Officers fired back at Miller, who was armed with an MK47 rifle with a 100-round drum magazine, prosecutors said.

Eight rounds hit a neighbor’s house while Miller was firing at officers, with one bullet striking a gas line and seven others hitting the wall of a bedroom where two children slept, according to the news release. Miller was struck in the shootout and taken to a local hospital.

Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke determined the officers were justified in their use of force and cleared them in November 2021 for firing back at Miller, according to the news release.

Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.

]]>
7054165 2025-04-11T10:54:26+00:00 2025-04-11T10:55:46+00:00
Gov. Jared Polis signs sweeping gun law that adds requirements to buy certain semiautomatic weapons https://www.denverpost.com/2025/04/10/colorado-gun-control-bill-jared-polis-sign-law-legislature/ Thu, 10 Apr 2025 22:03:23 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=7051976 Gov. Jared Polis signed a sweeping gun-control measure into law Thursday, the culmination of years of effort by advocates and progressive Democrats to limit the sale of high-powered semiautomatic weapons in Colorado.

Starting next summer, Coloradans will have to pass a background check and a training course before they can purchase a swath of semiautomatic firearms that include most of the guns known colloquially as assault weapons. Senate Bill 3 also prohibits the sale of bump stocks and rapid-fire trigger activators, which are firearm components that can increase a gun’s rate of fire.

The bill’s sponsors said it was intended to prevent future mass shootings and enforce the state’s existing prohibition on high-capacity magazines.

“We have been able to add to the safety of each and every Coloradan, especially when it comes to gun violence,” said Sen. Tom Sullivan, a Centennial Democrat who co-sponsored the bill with Sen. Julie Gonzales and Reps. Meg Froelich and Andy Boesenecker.

SB-3, which passed the legislature late last month, becomes the most sweeping gun-control measure passed by legislative Democrats in Colorado, and its passage into law was cheered Thursday by national gun-control groups Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety.

Though the law doesn’t impose a complete ban on assault weapons or any type of firearm, it follows in the footsteps of previous attempts in the Capitol to fully prohibit the sale or purchase of those guns. A group of activists, including local students who’d repeatedly come to the state Capitol calling for tighter regulations, attended the bill signing in the governor’s office Thursday.

Before the bill was signed, Froelich referred to those students as the “lockdown generation” that has lived their “whole school lives in the shadow of gun violence.”

“Today’s victory is because of the countless students that showed up day after day to testify in support of this life-saving bill,” Grant Cramer, a gun violence survivor and the co-president of Denver East High School’s Students Demand Action chapter, said in a statement. “We refused to take no for an answer and now we’ve strengthened our gun safety laws in Colorado. This is proof that our voices hold power to create change, no matter how big or small.”

Ian Escalante, the executive director of the group Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, called the bill’s passage into law “one of the most disgraceful things that’s ever been done in the state.” After the bill had drawn national attention from gun-rights advocates in recent weeks, the National Rifle Association quickly put out a blistering statement criticizing Polis’ decision to sign it.

Escalante said his group was considering legal options to challenge the bill — though they likely won’t be able to pursue litigation until the bill goes into effect next year. He also said he planned to pursue “electoral accountability” in 2026, referring to challenging Democrats in competitive districts.

“We’re not going to let this law stand,” he said outside the governor’s office, “whether it’s through litigation or whether we kick these bastards out and we replace them with people who will repeal it.”

Law doesn’t apply to common handguns

The new law goes into effect Aug. 1, 2026. It applies primarily to gas-operated semiautomatic firearms that accept detachable magazines, a definition that includes the AR-15 rifle and many guns like it. It would require people pass background checks from their county sheriff. Should they clear that, they would need to take either a four- or 12-hour training course, depending on whether they’ve passed a hunter safety class.

Polis said Thursday that he wanted to keep the cost of background checks and training to below $200 per person and that he wanted additional carveouts for people who’d previously been trained with the weapons.

Mollie Jenks, 3, Colorado Sen. Tom Sullivan's granddaughter, holding her stuffed animal "Teddy," tries to get Colorado Gov. Jared Polis' attention before Polis signed Senate Bill 3 into law in the governor's office at the State Capitol in Denver on Thursday, April 10, 2025. SB25-003 is a gun-control bill that institutes a permitting and background check system before someone can purchase certain semi-automatic weapons. Sullivan's son Alex Sullivan, was killed in the Aurora theater shooting in 2012. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
Mollie Jenks, 3. Colorado Sen. Tom Sullivan’s granddaughter, holding her stuffed animal “Teddy,” tries to get Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ attention before Polis signed Senate Bill 3 into law in the governor’s office at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver on Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)

The law does not prohibit the possession of the weapons. It does not apply to most common handguns or shotguns, and lawmakers included a list of other firearms that are exempt from the limitations. The law also would not require anyone to turn in their firearms.

Gun shops can also continue selling firearms covered under the law, even to people who haven’t passed background checks, so long as the weapons have been altered to have a fixed magazine — meaning that they cannot be reloaded as rapidly.

All of the legislature’s 34 Republican lawmakers — along with several Democrats — voted against the bill. Conservatives labeled it an infringement on the Second Amendment and argued it would do little to stop gun violence.

Opponents delivered thousands of petitions to Democrats and to Polis’ office requesting that the proposal be rejected, and some also left flyers at the homes of Democratic lawmakers.

A skeptic of previous proposals to ban firearms at the state level, Sullivan embraced SB-3 as a means to enforce the 2013 magazine ban passed after the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting, in which Sullivan’s son, Alex, was killed. Other advocates and supporters said the bill seeks to prevent the mass shootings that have become a common feature of American life.

The new law’s limitations would apply to the guns used in the Aurora attack as well as to the weapons used at Columbine High School in 1999, at the Boulder King Soopers in 2021, and in a shooting spree in Lakewood and Denver in late 2021.

Polis sought changes to bill

As initially drafted, the bill would’ve broadly banned the sale or purchase of any gas-operated gun that accepted detachable magazines — which simultaneously would’ve escalated the magazine ban and enacted a de facto ban on most existing assault weapons.

But Polis balked, and his staff sought to insert a loophole into the measure allowing for sales to continue under certain circumstances.

In a late-night deal, Sullivan and Gonzales eventually acquiesced to the governor’s request. They added in the training and background check requirements after a needed supporter — embattled then-Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis — was absent ahead of a key vote.

Capt. Jason Kennedy with the Douglas County Sheriff's office, center, sitting next to Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams, right, gives his testimony to members of the Senate's State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee as they consider Senate Bill 3 in the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the Colorado State Capitol in Denver on Jan. 28, 2025. The committee held a first vote on the measure, which would effectively enact a ban on a wide swap of weapons considered assault weapons. The bill is up for its first committee vote in the Capitol. The committee lasted well into the evening with proponents and opponents of the bill allowed to give their testimony to the members of the committee. SB3 is a new approach to limiting the sale of high-powered, semiautomatic firearms -- instead of outright banning specific types of weapons, it would ban weapons that accept a detachable magazine. That would cover many of the weapons we consider assault weapons. Given that the bill is sponsored by state Sen. Tom Sullivan, whose opposition to similar legislation in the past has sunk it, it's also very likely to pass the chamber and the legislature this year. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Douglas County Sheriff’s office Division Chief Jason Kennedy, center, sitting next to Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams, right, gives his testimony to members of the Senate’s State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee as they consider Senate Bill 3 in the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the Colorado State Capitol in Denver on Jan. 28, 2025. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

In a statement accompanying the bill signing, Polis focused largely on the changes inserted into the bill to allow the firearms to still be sold to people who complete SB-3’s training and background check requirements.

“This bill ensures that our Second Amendment rights are protected and that Coloradans can continue to purchase the gun of their choice for sport, hunting, self defense, or home defense,” he wrote.

With SB-3, Colorado joins a growing list of states that have either instituted a permitting scheme — meaning requirements that people receive some sort of approval before they can purchase certain weapons — or an outright ban on semiautomatic rifles.

The law will almost certainly be challenged in court, though legal scholars and supporters have argued it stands on solid constitutional footing.

Legislative Democrats have enacted a growing list of firearms regulations, largely in the past few years as the party’s legislative majorities have grown. Sullivan said 40 gun-violence prevention bills have been introduced in recent years, nearly half of which have passed.

Those new laws include a mandatory waiting period and age limit for purchasing firearms, new gun-storage rules and additional gun shop licensing requirements. Lawmakers have also further limited where firearms can be carried and have expanded the legal avenues for a court to temporarily confiscate a person’s weapons.

After signing SB-3 on Thursday, Polis then signed another Sullivan-backed bill intended to help bring federal funding to the state to respond to mass shootings.

Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.

]]>
7051976 2025-04-10T16:03:23+00:00 2025-04-10T18:33:32+00:00
Douglas County sheriff’s deputy cleared in February Main Event police shooting https://www.denverpost.com/2025/04/07/douglas-county-sheriff-jalin-seabron-event-highlands-ranch/ Mon, 07 Apr 2025 22:45:44 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=7039597 The Douglas County sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed a 23-year-old man while responding to a shooting at a Highlands Ranch arcade has been cleared in the man’s death.

Deputy Nicholas Moore’s use of deadly force was necessary to defend himself and others in the fatal shooting of Jalin Seabron on Feb. 8 outside the Main Event, according to a decision letter from 23rd Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler.

Moore was responding to reports of an active shooting at the Highlands Ranch arcade and entertainment center just before midnight. He rolled up to the scene with lights flashing but no siren on, Brauchler said at a news conference Monday afternoon.

That’s when he saw Seabron in the parking lot holding a gun. He exited his vehicle with a rifle and told Seabron three times to drop his gun, but never identified himself as a police officer. When Seabron didn’t drop his gun, Moore fired nine rounds at him — seven of which entered Seabron’s body.

“One of the questions that’s asked by the law is, why not less lethal?” Brauchler said at the conference. “There’s gotta be a reason why. And the reason deputy Moore says he did not consider less lethal in the situation was because it was an active shooter situation. He engaged a suspect that was holding a firearm, and he was the only law enforcement officer at the time in the area.”

Brauchler showed several still images from different angles of Seabron with a gun in his hand in front of the Main Event. Law enforcement authorities have said that when Seabron turned his head toward Moore, not raising his weapon from his side, the deputy fired at him.

He said Moore claims he made eye contact with Seabron before the final fatal moment.

“I find that the shooting, as tragic as it was — and I know everyone out there thinks to themselves there are a million different decisions made by multiple people that could have avoided this — that it was a justified use of deadly lethal force under Colorado law,” Brauchler said.

Brauchler aknowledged that Moore never identified himself as an officer of the law to Seabron — “he surely did not do that.” But he said state law allows a police officer to forgo that announcement if they believe doing so “would unduly place peace officers at risk or would create a risk of death or injury to other persons.”

“And Deputy Moore says at that moment, ‘I felt like I had to act quickly to try to stop the threat,’ ” Brauchler said.

But the family of Seabron, who was at the arcade with his pregnant girlfriend and his two sisters to celebrate his birthday, said they weren’t satisfied with the district attorney’s conclusion. His mother, Veronica Seabron, told reporters outside the Douglas County Justice Center in Castle Rock there is “no justification for why I should be standing here without my 23-year-old son.”

“There is no justification for as many shots fired. There is no justification for criminalizing him before anything was ever released,” she said. “So to say that this is a justified shooting seems one-sided. This will never be justified to me.”

Jalin’s father, Dennis Crowley, said his son, a Black man, “deserved much better.”

Attorney Tyrone Glover speaks to the media as the family of Jalin Seabron listen on April 7, 2025, at the Robert A. Christensen Justice Center in Castle Rock. Glover and the family addressed the media after a news conference where 23rd Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler cleared Douglas County Sheriff's Deputy Nicholas Moore in Seabron's shooting death. (John Aguilar / The Denver Post)
Attorney Tyrone Glover speaks to the media as the family of Jalin Seabron listen on April 7, 2025, at the Robert A. Christensen Justice Center in Castle Rock. Glover and the family addressed the media after a news conference where 23rd Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler cleared Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholas Moore in Seabron’s shooting death. (John Aguilar / The Denver Post)

“He was gunned down like a dog and no humanity was shown in Officer Nick Moore’s heart,” he said. “Nick Moore, if you’re afraid of my community, resign. Don’t become a police officer.”

Attorney Tyrone Glover, who is representing the Seabron family, told reporters Monday that Jalin Seabron, was just trying to protect his girlfriend and sisters from someone inside the venue, where some sort of disagreement had erupted. He was focused on a person with a gun emerging from the Main Event, Glover said, and not on the deputy who was coming up behind him.

“He didn’t fire a shot, didn’t point the gun, didn’t even raise his weapon at the officer,” he said. “(Moore) gave no time for Jalin to comply. By the time Jalin even realizes what is going on, if he ever truly did, he’s getting shot. That’s not justified.”

Body camera footage shows that when the deputy arrived at the scene, he immediately exited his vehicle and ran toward Seabron with a gun he had assembled and prepared while driving to the arcade.

“Hey!” the officer is heard shouting in the video. “Drop the gun! Drop the gun! Now! Drop it!”

Glover said the family will continue to pursue justice through “other pathways and avenues of justice.”

Douglas County sheriff’s officials have said the Saturday night shooting inside the Highlands Ranch arcade started as a fight in the bathroom between Seabron’s stepsister, 23-year-old Nevaeha Crowley-Sanders, and a friend she had known since high school. Authorities said Crowley-Sanders pulled out a semi-automatic handgun and shot at the 22-year-old victim, her friend, eight times.

Crowley-Sanders faces 104 charges in the shooting, including five counts of felony attempted murder. Six other people were arrested on suspicion of being accessories to the shooting as well as multiple assault, weapons and drug charges.

Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.

]]>
7039597 2025-04-07T16:45:44+00:00 2025-04-07T20:19:07+00:00
Woman gets prison time for 2021 shooting of 16-year-old boy in Denver https://www.denverpost.com/2025/04/04/murder-sentencing-denver-ashlye-handy-abrehem-yohhanes/ Fri, 04 Apr 2025 20:31:42 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=7021671 A woman was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the 2021 shooting of a 16-year-old boy in Denver.

Ashlye Handy, 36, was convicted of second-degree murder on Jan. 14 in Denver District Court in the shooting death of Abrehem Yohhanes in a Denver apartment building in the 1400 block of Yosemite Street in September 2021, according to a news release from the Denver district attorney’s office.

Yohhanes was discovered bleeding from his head inside an apartment by a friend about 4 a.m. Sept. 16, 2021, according to Handy’s arrest affidavit. The friend went to check on Yohhanes after receiving a screenshot of a concerning text sent by Handy’s brother in a Facebook thread. The text read, “I love you thug rest up.”

Handy, then 32, who is described in the affidavit as Yohhanes’ girlfriend, had already fled the apartment when the friend arrived, according to the affidavit.

Police believe Yohhanes was shot about 11:08 p.m. Sept. 15, 2021, when ShotSpotter reported a shot in the area of 1425 Yosemite St., which is directly next to the apartment building where Yohannes was found, according to the affidavit.

Police also acquired surveillance video of Handy leaving the apartment building about 11:12 p.m. that night, about four minutes after ShotSpotter detected a gunshot in the area, according to the affidavit. She was seen carrying a black and silver handgun, and leaving in a silver Chevy Impala she and Yohhanes had previously arrived in about 10:52 p.m. She was arrested in the shooting on Oct. 19, 2021.

Handy was sentenced to 25 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections on Thursday.

“Abrehem Yohhanes’ murder was a terrible, senseless tragedy: A young man, just 16 years old, killed with nearly his entire life in front of him,” Denver District Attorney John Walsh said in the release. “Ms. Handy will pay a heavy price for her awful actions – a sentence that we hope will bring a measure of comfort and a sense of justice to all those who knew and loved Abrehem.”

Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.

]]>
7021671 2025-04-04T14:31:42+00:00 2025-04-04T20:24:51+00:00
Sheridan man sentenced to 192 years for girlfriend’s murder https://www.denverpost.com/2025/04/02/roy-jones-murder-conviction-sentence-sheridan-colorado-prison/ Wed, 02 Apr 2025 13:43:12 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=7016484 A Sheridan man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the 2024 murder of his girlfriend, judicial officials announced Monday.

Following a five-day jury trial, 54-year-old Roy Jones was convicted of second-degree murder and three habitual criminal sentence enhancers in the death of Angela Cordova, according to a news release from the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

Arapahoe County District Court Judge Joshua Williford sentenced Jones last Wednesday to 192 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections, court records show.

Typically, a second-degree murder conviction carries a maximum sentence of 48 years, according to the District Attorney’s office. The three habitual criminal sentence enhancers allowed the judge to lengthen Jones’ sentence.

Cordova’s son called 911 on May 30, 2024, to report a shooting, the District Attorney’s Office said in the release. When officers arrived, they found Cordova lying in bed. She had been shot in the head.

“The couple had only been dating for about a year before Mr. Jones decided to murder Ms. Cordova in her own bed,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Jacob Kremin stated in the news release. “The evidence leaves no doubt as to who is responsible for this egregious crime. This defendant robbed a son and daughter of their mother and deserves to spend the rest of his life behind bars.”

Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.

]]>
7016484 2025-04-02T07:43:12+00:00 2025-04-02T07:43:12+00:00
Suspect wanted in fatal north Denver shooting on East Bruce Randolph Avenue https://www.denverpost.com/2025/04/01/fatal-denver-shooting-bruce-randolph-nyeesha-jackson/ Wed, 02 Apr 2025 03:12:12 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=7015525 Investigators are looking for a 35-year-old woman suspected in a fatal north Denver shooting in March, police officials said Tuesday.

Nyeesha Jackson, 31, died at the hospital after she was shot in the 2200 block of East Bruce Randolph Avenue the night of March 20, according to the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner.

Her death from a gunshot wound was a homicide, according to the medical examiner. 

The Denver Police Department identified Kasia James as a suspect in the case. James is described as a Black woman; 5 feet, 4 inches tall and 140 pounds with brown eyes and black hair.

Anyone with information can contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.

Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.

]]>
7015525 2025-04-01T21:12:12+00:00 2025-04-01T21:12:12+00:00