“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.

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On April 30, 2024, Thornton police officers Tim Fuss, Marc Faivre and Scott Schilb fatally shot Joby Vigil and Jasmine Castro.

“Because of our ethical obligations requiring a reasonable likelihood of conviction, no criminal charges can or should be filed against the officers,” First Judicial District Attorney Alexis King wrote in her decision letter.

The letter stated King found only Schilb acted reasonably in his use of force and that she questioned Fuss and Faivre’s decision-making in the shooting.

In a July 2024 interview with The Denver Post, Vigil’s parents said they initially didn’t want their son’s name made public but changed their minds after seeing body-camera video that showed Vigil never was able to put his hands up.

Frank Vigil and his wife, Deanine, said they wanted all the police officers involved to lose their jobs and never work in law enforcement again.

As of Thursday, all three officers remained employed by the Thornton Police Department. An internal administrative review began this week after the decision letter was released by the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

The officers, who were driving unmarked vehicles on April 30, 2024, started following Castro’s car, in which Vigil was riding, when they noticed it didn’t have a license plate and thought it may have been stolen, according to the decision letter.

They tried to pull Castro over but turned off their emergency lights and continued to follow her when she refused to stop.

Eventually, Castro parked at a strip mall in Lakewood and shot twice at the two unmarked police cars, according to the decision letter. She then got back into the car and took off, driving at speeds close to 100 mph.

Police technology in the area recorded both gunshots, which were fired less than a second apart at about 2:59 a.m. Because of the attempted traffic stop in Thornton, the officers told investigators they believed Castro knew they were police when she shot at them.

The officers crashed into Castro’s car and ended the chase in a Lakewood residential area near Second Avenue and Garrison Street.

When Castro climbed out of the driver’s side window, Fuss saw “something black” in her hand and believed she was going to flee, the decision letter stated. He gave her one warning to put her hands up and, two seconds later, he shot at her six times with his handgun “until she was down on the ground and no longer a threat.”

Schilb also shot at Castro eight times with his rifle when she was already on the ground, according to the letter. He said he saw a gun near her waistband and thought she would still be able to use it.

Neither Fuss nor Schilb verbalized that they saw a gun.

Since Castro, when climbing out of the car, landed on her hands and knees and turned away from Fuss as she stood, King said Fuss’ perception that she “intended imminent serious bodily injury or death” to the group “was unreasonable.”

She said Schilb, who was on the other side of Castro, acted reasonably, and a reasonable person confronted with the same facts and circumstances would also believe deadly force was necessary to subdue the suspect.

“Of the three officers who engaged with the (car) that night, Officer Faivre’s decision-making is the most problematic,” King wrote in the decision letter.

Faivre never saw the gun or Castro’s and Vigil’s hands, she wrote. Instead, he shot at them 11 times as they moved away from him and climbed out the driver’s side window of the crashed car.

Faivre is the only officer who shot at Vigil, striking him in the head, back and legs, according to the decision letter. All three officers shot at Castro, who was hit in her legs, wrist, arms, shoulder, chest, abdomen and back.

“Unlike the other officers, Officer Faivre had no additional information after the crash, other than the occupants franticly reaching around the car, to justify his own use of deadly force,” King wrote. “Faivre did not see or know about a black object, did not see a firearm and could not articulate where he was shooting.”

King said she believed Faivre’s use of force was not reasonable. Still, she didn’t think a jury would convict any officer as they could all claim self-defense.

Thornton Police Department officials said the three officers will remain on administrative duty while the internal review progresses.

“As is standard protocol, the department has now initiated an internal administrative review to assess whether the officers’ actions were in compliance with Thornton Police Department policies and procedures,” the police department said in an emailed statement to The Post. “… We recognize the emotional toll this incident has had on all those involved, and we are dedicated to doing everything we can to help heal and move forward together as a community.”

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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.”

“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.

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Chief Ron Thomas said shortly after the March 20 shooting in an alley near 35th Avenue and Humboldt Street in Denver’s Cole neighborhood that the man, who was homeless, was armed with a handgun.

He has since been identified as Jose Medina, 57, by the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner.

An image of the item — which Major Crimes Bureau Commander Matt Clark said bore Smith & Wesson markings and was damaged by one of the 16 bullets fired by four officers — was shown on a television screen during the briefing.

Police also released body-worn-camera video of the shooting Thursday that shows officers confronting Medina, who had reportedly been camping behind Annunciation Catholic School.

In the videos, officers repeatedly tell Medina to drop the weapon, which they identify as a firearm. When Medina instead lifts his right arm, which held the replica gun, officers open fire, striking Medina multiple times.

Officers then move in and handcuff Medina, as one officer presses his handgun into the back of Medina’s head, which Thomas told reporters was “not protocol” but was intended as a “de-escalation technique.”

Clark said officers provided emergency medical care to Medina, applying a chest seal and tourniquet, before he was taken to a hospital, where he died later that day.

Thomas said officers had made contact with Medina periodically since 2005, and he was believed to have been homeless on and off since then.

“No officer wants to take a life,” Thomas said. “They only responded with, ultimately, deadly force because he moved that weapon in their direction and put them in fear of their life.”

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Colorado Springs Police Department officers responded to a parking lot near South Nevada and Colorado avenues at around 2:21 p.m. after someone called 911 about a man threatening someone with a gun and breaking into vehicles, the agency said on social media.

Officers found the man in a vehicle in the parking lot and were trying to arrest him when he got out of a vehicle with a gun.

At least one officer then shot the man, according to the department. Police started giving medical aid, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

No officers were injured and investigators found a gun at the scene, police officials said.

The man’s name will be released by the El Paso County Coroner’s Office and the shooting is being investigated by the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.

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At about 3:18 a.m. Monday, officers were patrolling near an apartment building at 1035 South Elkhart Way and saw a 16-year-old boy “prowling” in the area, Division Chief Mark Hildebrand said in a news briefing.

The apartment complex is near the intersection of East Mississippi Avenue and South Chambers Road in Aurora’s City Center neighborhood.

The teen, who has not been publicly identified, “took off running” as soon as officers arrived, Hildebrand said. A few minutes later, they found him in a nearby parking lot, hiding behind trees and cars.

Hildebrand said officers started to give the teen orders but didn’t say what they ordered him to do. He said the 16-year-old didn’t comply with those orders and started to walk toward officers “at a very fast pace.”

The officers retreated to create space, but the teenager continued to approach, Hildebrand said.

That’s when one officer shot him in the leg. Hildebrand said the officer fired two to three shots.

No officers were injured in the shooting, he said.

The teenager dropped a knife after he was shot, but Hildebrand said it’s unclear if the officer knew he was armed at the time of the shooting.

Paramedics took the teenager to the hospital and Hildebrand said he is expected to be released later Monday morning.

The officer, who Hildebrand said is a 20-year veteran, is on administrative leave pending the results of an investigation into the shooting, per department policy.

Hildebrand said investigators believe the 16-year-old was trying to break into cars in the area, which he said has seen an increase in car thefts and vehicle break-ins.

The 18th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team will investigate the shooting and the officer’s use of force.

This is a developing story and may be updated. 

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Officers were responding to a call about a person with a gun at around 6:25 p.m. when they encountered the man in the 3500 block alley between Lafayette and North Humboldt streets, behind Annunciation Catholic School, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said at a briefing.

The man was holding a handgun, and officers ordered him to drop the gun before he made a “threatening gesture,” and officers shot him, Thomas said.

It’s not clear how many officers fired their guns or how many times they fired.

Officers began providing medical aid before an ambulance arrived and took the man to Denver Health. He underwent surgery and was said to be in critical condition Thursday night before police announced he had died Friday.

A police spokesperson wrote in an email that the man will be identified by the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner. No officers were injured in the shooting.

The shooting will be investigated by the Colorado State Patrol, Colorado Bureau of Investigation and DPD’s Homicide Unit, and the results will be presented to the Denver District Attorney’s Office.

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Pueblo officers originally responded to the south side of the city, near Mesa Avenue and Cedar Street, in search of 34-year-old Billy Soto, Pueblo Police Chief Chris Noeller said in a Wednesday news conference.

Noeller said Soto, who he called a “self-admitted MS-13 gang member,” was wanted on investigation of attempted murder in a February shooting at a Pueblo apartment complex.

“Our officers were ambushed and shot by a malicious person who should have been in jail, but wasn’t because of our soft-on-crime legislation and bonds,” Noeller said. “… I for one am sick of it. I am sick of my officers taking these risks and being held to this kind of crime with no recourse and our community should be sick of it. The blood of my officers lays at the steps of the Capitol.”

A warrant was issued for Soto’s arrest in the apartment shooting in late February, but Soto had not yet been arrested, charged or bonded out, according to court records.

Soto posted a $25,000 and a $30,000 bond in December 2024 in two ongoing Pueblo court cases where he was charged with felony motor vehicle theft, possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute, possessing a weapon as a previous offender, carrying a concealed weapon, violating multiple protection orders and resisting arrest, according to court records.

Both of those bails were readjusted to $2,500 cash-only bonds in January, but the date he posted the new bonds was not listed in district court records.

Soto was also out on bond in an ongoing felony motor vehicle theft case in El Paso County. He failed to appear for a disposition hearing in that case in January.

After police said Soto opened fire on officers, additional Pueblo police officers and sheriff’s deputies responded to the shooting as backup, according to a news release from the department.

The area where the shooting happened is north of Bessemer Park and about 2 miles east of the Colorado State Fairgrounds.

When those Pueblo officers and deputies arrived, “additional shots were fired” between the suspect and law enforcement, according to the release.

Police said Soto then fled the area on foot and continued shooting at officers and deputies.

Multiple officers returned fire and shot Soto, according to the news release. Noeller did not say how many officers were involved, how many rounds officers fired at Soto or how many times the injured officers were shot.

Four deputies were involved and are on paid administrative leave while the shooting is under investigation, according to the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office.

Officers provided emergency medical attention, but Soto died from his injuries at the scene of the shooting.

Noeller said the three police officers injured in the shooting are in stable condition but “have a long road to recovery.”

“Our men and women in uniform work every day on the front lines, and put themselves in harm’s way to protect our lives and communities,” Governor Jared Polis said in a statement. “Pueblo is a strong community, especially in tough times like this.”

The 10th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team, led by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, will investigate the shooting. Polis said the Colorado State Patrol is also supporting the investigation.

Soto has a long criminal history in Pueblo County, according to court records.

Between 2012 and 2015, he was charged with 15 felonies but pleaded many of those cases down to misdemeanor charges, according to court records.

Soto was convicted during that time of witness tampering and victim intimidation, false reporting, violating a protection order and possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, court records show.

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Deputies responded to reports of a domestic violence incident with injuries at a home off of County Road 77 at about 6:26 p.m. Wednesday, Elbert County Undersheriff Dave Fisher said.

When they arrived at the home, deputies found an armed man outside of a trailer who refused to drop his gun. Fisher said the victim of the domestic violence call lived in the house and the armed man, who has not been publicly identified, lived in a trailer on the victim’s property.

Deputies shot less lethal “baton rounds” at the man when he refused to drop his weapon and he retreated into the trailer, Fisher said.

Baton rounds are designed to impact or stun instead of penetrate and include bean bags and rubber, plastic, wooden or foam bullets.

Negotiators and deputies attempted to get the suspect to come out of the trailer, but he refused, Fisher said. That’s when Elbert County’s SWAT team responded to the scene.

After an hour of failed negotiations, deputies decided to fire pepper ball rounds into the man’s trailer through a window, Fisher said.

The man shot at officers outside the trailer in response and three deputies returned fire, Fisher said. The shootout happened at about 9:42 p.m.

It’s not clear if the man was struck by the deputies, but when law enforcement flew two drones into the trailer about two hours later, at about 11:50 p.m., they found the suspect lying dead on the floor, Fisher said.

Elbert County coroner officials will identify the man and his cause of death after his next of kin has been notified. It’s currently unclear how he died.

No deputies were injured.

The three deputies involved are all on administrative leave pending the results of an investigation by the 23rd Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team.

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Officers responded to the reported road rage incident at about 3:35 p.m. Tuesday, according to a statement from the Colorado Springs Police Department. Police said officers then traced the armed suspect to an apartment complex in the 2100 block of Delta Drive.

When officers knocked at the unidentified suspect’s apartment at about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, the suspect opened the door with a raised handgun pointed at officers, according to the police department.

Police said that’s when at least one officer fired at least one shot. No one was injured and the suspect was arrested a short time later, police said.

The Colorado Springs police officers involved have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into the shooting, per department policy.

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