Posted inCrime and Courts, News

Colorado’s largest jails cut their populations because of coronavirus. Now the numbers are creeping back up.

Colorado’s largest jails are becoming more crowded after population levels dropped to historic lows last year as officials made efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 behind bars.  Now, as the world returns to a version of “normal” and court hearings have resumed, numbers are creeping closer to pre-pandemic levels at many of Colorado’s largest […]

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STEM School Highlands Ranch security guard reaches agreement with DA for firing gun, wounding students

The private security guard credited with helping stop the deadly May attack at STEM School Highlands Ranch will not be prosecuted for firing two rounds from a concealed gun he wasn’t supposed to have on campus during the attack.  An agreement with prosecutors will allow Shamson Sundara to avoid criminal sanctions, but he must complete […]

Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government

Colorado’s guidance to police on the red flag law doesn’t include what to do if someone won’t give up their guns

The board overseeing law enforcement training and procedures in Colorado has released its model policy for how police departments and sheriff’s offices should use the new, controversial red flag gun law when it goes into effect Jan. 1.  The law allows a judge to order temporary seizure of guns from someone deemed a significant risk […]

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A slain deputy. A political brawl. A school shooting: How Sheriff Tony Spurlock is handling years of turmoil

CASTLE ROCK — Sheriff Tony Spurlock is digging into a plate of enchiladas, trying to make sense of the wave of tragedies that rolled through his office in the past three years, when a worker at a Mexican restaurant recognizes him.  “I don’t see you that much,” the man says, “except bad news on the […]

Posted inCrime and Courts, Education, News

“There wasn’t a whole lot that was going through my mind”: Teen called mom while subduing Highlands Ranch school shooter

By Thomas Peipert, The Associated Press LITTLETON — A student who helped thwart a shooting at a suburban Denver high school says he was still pinning one of the attackers down when he decided to call one of the most important people in his life — his mother. Joshua Jones, an 18-year-old senior at STEM […]

Posted inCrime and Courts, Education, News, Politics and Government

This is not Parkland: Douglas County, divided on guns but eager to prevent another school shooting, tries to find its voice

HIGHLANDS RANCH — For Kelly Murphy, the meeting was three years in the making, since a relative with mental illness got a gun and murdered a neighbor. Her resolve to stand up against gun violence solidified after the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, when Murphy told herself that if teenagers could speak out on […]

Posted inCrime and Courts, Education, News

STEM School Highlands Ranch didn’t have school resource deputy because of disagreement with sheriff’s office

No school resource officer was on hand to patrol the hallways of the STEM School Highlands Ranch when Tuesday’s deadly shooting occurred because of a dispute last year between school officials and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Tony Spurlock released details of the clash late Friday afternoon, including documents related to it. In a […]