Tag Archives: Evan Spencer Ebel

News, Politics, Government

Judge wanted long sentence for Colo. suspect

Leave a comment

Court transcripts show that the man suspected of killing Colorado’s corrections chief knew he was being sentenced to four more years in prison for punching a guard in the face.

But a paperwork and communication mistake in court led to Evan Spencer Ebel‘s release in January.

The transcripts show Ebel told the judge he’d be 33 when he was released, and asked for a more lenient sentence. The judge told him at the 2008 hearing that four years on top of an already under way eight-year sentence was fair.

The judge, however, didn’t use the word consecutive, and the court clerk didn’t write it down. So prison officials let Ebel serve the term at the same time as his previous sentence. Ebel died in a shootout with Texas deputies.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Colorado suspect slipped ankle bracelet; took 5 days for parole officials to realize

Leave a comment

Parole officials did not realize that a white supremacist gang member had slipped his ankle bracelet and fled custody until five days after the system first flagged him as being delinquent, according to records released Tuesday.

They sent a warrant out for his arrest the next day, one day before he was killed in a shootout with Texas authorities and a day after police now say they think he was involved in the slaying of Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements.

“We have to do better in the future,” said Tim Hand, director of the Department of Correction’s parole division.

Evan Spencer Ebel had been a model parolee until his electronic monitoring bracelet stopped working March 14. Before that, he called in daily, even once calling in alarm because no one had requested his weekly urinalysis test to show he hadn’t been using drugs.

His father provided him housing and a job at his law firm, but on the afternoon of March 14, a “tamper alert” automatically went to a prison computer system showing the bracelet had stopped working.

Two days later, corrections officials called Ebel and told him to come in to repair the bracelet. He did not show up.

It was not until March 18 that parole officers spoke to Ebel’s father, who told them he feared his son had fled and gave them permission to search his apartment. The next day, two parole officers saw Ebel had taken a large amount of clothing and apparently fled.

That night, Clements was shot and killed as he answered the front door at his house. The next morning, parole officers obtained a warrant for Ebel’s arrest for parole violations and sent it to Colorado State Patrol. They had no indication he was involved in the Clements’ killing until the shootout March 21.

Ebel is also suspected of killing a Denver pizza delivery man and father of three on March 17.

It’s the latest break that Ebel seems to have caught as he spent nearly a decade in Colorado’s criminal justice system. Court officials on Monday vowed to release procedures that led to a clerical error that allowed Ebel to leave prison four years early.

Judicial officials acknowledged Monday that Ebel’s previous felony conviction was inaccurately recorded and his release in January was an error.

In 2008, Ebel pleaded guilty in rural Fremont County to assaulting a prison officer. In the plea deal, Ebel was to be sentenced to up to four additional years in prison, to be served after he completed the eight-year sentence that put him behind bars in 2005, according to a statement from Colorado’s 11th Judicial District.

However, the judge didn’t say the sentence was meant to be “consecutive,” or in addition to, Ebel’s current one. So the court clerk recorded it as one to be served “concurrently,” or at the same time. That’s the information that went to the state prisons, the statement said.

So on Jan. 28, prisons officials saw that Ebel had finished his court-ordered sentence and released him. They said they had no way of knowing the …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Ex-inmate suspected of killing Colorado prisons chief freed 4 years too soon

Leave a comment

Because of a paperwork error, the suspect in last month’s killing of Colorado’s corrections chief was freed from prison in January — four years earlier than authorities intended.

Judicial officials acknowledged Monday that Evan Spencer Ebel’s previous felony conviction had been inaccurately recorded and his release was a mistake.

In 2008, Ebel pleaded guilty in rural Fremont County to assaulting a prison officer. In the plea deal, Ebel was to be sentenced to up to four additional years in prison, to be served after he completed the eight-year sentence that put him behind bars in 2005, according to a statement from Colorado’s 11th Judicial District.

However, the judge did not say the sentence was meant to be “consecutive,” or in addition to, Ebel’s current one. So the court clerk recorded it as one to be served “concurrently,” or at the same time. That’s the information that went to the state prisons, the statement said.

So on Jan. 28, prisons officials saw that Ebel had finished his court-ordered sentence and released him. They said they had no way of knowing the plea deal was intended to keep Ebel behind bars for years longer.

Two months later, Ebel was dead after a shootout with authorities in Texas. The gun he used in the March 21 gunbattle was the same one used to shoot and kill prisons chief Tom Clements two days earlier. Police believe Ebel also was involved in the death of a Domino’s Pizza delivery man, Nathan Leon, in Denver.

“The court regrets this oversight and extends condolences to the families of Mr. Nathan Leon and Mr. Tom Clements,” said a statement signed by Charles Barton, chief judge of the 11th Judicial District, and court administrator Walter Blair.

Leon’s father-in-law told AP he had no immediate comment

“There should be more than just a two-sentence apology,” Leon’s sister-in-law Amber Lane told The Denver Post. “I thank somebody for taking accountability for the error, however it doesn’t bring Nate back.”

The court officials vowed to review their procedures to ensure the error isn’t repeated.

“The Colorado Department of Corrections values its long-standing partnership with the 11th Judicial District and the district attorney’s office to maintain order at the prisons in Canon City. We commend both the 11th Judicial District and the DOC for reviewing their own internal processes and procedures,” Gov. John Hickenlooper’s spokeswoman Megan Castle said in a written statement.

The attack that led to the plea deal took place in 2006. According to prison and court records, Ebel slipped out of his handcuffs while being transferred from a cell and punched a prison officer in the face. He bloodied the officer’s nose and finger, and threatened to kill the officer’s family.

“If Mr. Ebel was prosecuted for an assault on an officer, it had to be pretty severe, because in the course of day-to-day work, correctional officers are regularly assaulted or threatened,” said Pueblo County Commissioner Buffie McFadyen, who is executive director of the correctional officer group Corrections U.S.A.

“It sounds like a horrific oversight,” she said of the mistake that led to …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Error led to early release of Colo slaying suspect

Leave a comment

A clerical error allowed the man suspected of killing Colorado’s prisons chief to be released from custody about four years early.

Court administrators acknowledged the error in a statement Monday. They said that in 2008, Evan Spencer Ebel pleaded guilty to assaulting a prison guard. He was supposed to spend four additional years in prison.

A court clerk failed to note that the sentence was supposed to be served after the one Ebel was already serving. As a result, prison records showed it should run at the same time as the 8-year assault sentence Ebel was already serving. He was released Jan. 28.

Ebel was killed in a shootout in Texas on March 21. He used the same gun that was used to kill prisons chief Tom Clements days earlier.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Texas puts prosecutors on high alert after district attorney, wife shot dead inside home

Leave a comment

After one of his assistant prosecutors was gunned down in January, Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland carried a gun everywhere, even when walking the dog.

He was extra careful when answering the door at his home outside of Forney, about 20 miles east of Dallas. And a neighbor said a sheriff’s deputy was stationed outside the home for about a month after the killing.

On Saturday, McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were found shot to death in their house.

Authorities haven’t said much about their investigation, including whether they have any leads or a theory about why the couple was killed. But law enforcement throughout Texas is on high alert, and steps are being taken to better protect other DAs and their staffs.

Tarrant County District Attorney Joe Shannon said his staff has been cautioned, but he declined to discuss the specific security measures that have been taken. Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins declined to comment on the issue, citing safety concerns.

Harris County District Attorney Mike Anderson said he accepted the Houston sheriff’s offer of 24-hour security for him and his family after learning about the killings, mostly over concerns for his family’s safety. Anderson said he also would take precautions at his office, the largest one in Texas, which has more than 270 prosecutors.

“I think district attorneys across Texas are still in a state of shock,” Anderson said Sunday.

Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes said little at a brief news conference Sunday about the McLelland investigation, and he deflected questions about possible suspects. He said security would be stepped up at the courthouse in Kaufman, but he declined to say what other steps might be taken to protect the other prosecutors in McLelland’s office. The DA‘s Office will remain closed Monday.

McLelland, 63, is the 13th prosecutor killed in the U.S. since the National Association of District Attorneys began keeping count in the 1960s.

The couple’s killings came less than two weeks after Colorado’s prison chief was shot to death at his front door, apparently by an ex-convict, and a couple of months after Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was killed in a parking lot a block from his courthouse office. No arrests have been made in Hasse’s slaying Jan. 31.

Byrnes would not give details Sunday of how the killings unfolded and said there was nothing to indicate for certain whether the DA‘s slaying was connected to Hasse’s.

After Hasse’s shooting, McLelland said, “We lost a really, really good man. We are going to find you. We are going to pull you out of whatever hole you are in and we are going to let the people of Kaufman County prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”

El Paso County, Colo., sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Joe Roybal said investigators had found no evidence so far connecting the Texas killings to the Colorado case, but added: “We’re examining all possibilities.”

Colorado’s corrections director, Tom Clements, was killed March 19 when he answered the doorbell at his home outside Colorado Springs. Evan Spencer Ebel, a white …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Texas district attorney found dead in home had spoke of arming himself after assistant's murder

Leave a comment

Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland took no chances after one of his assistant prosecutors was gunned down two months ago. McLelland said he carried a gun everywhere he went and was extra careful when answering the door at his home.

“I’m ahead of everybody else because, basically, I’m a soldier,” the 23-year Army veteran said in an interview less than two weeks ago.

On Saturday, he and his wife were found shot to death in their rural home just outside the town of Forney, about 20 miles from Dallas.

While investigators gave no motive for the killings, Forney Mayor Darren Rozell said: “It appears this was not a random act.”

“Everybody’s a little on edge and a little shocked,” he said.

The slayings came less than two weeks after Colorado’s prison chief was shot to death at his front door, apparently by an ex-convict, and a couple of months after Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was killed in a parking lot a block from his courthouse office. No arrests have been made in Hasse’s slaying Jan. 31.

McLelland, 63, is the 13th prosecutor killed in the U.S. since the National Association of District Attorneys began keeping count in the 1960s.

Sheriff David Byrnes would not give details Sunday of how the killings unfolded and said there was nothing to indicate for certain whether the DA‘s slaying was connected to Hasse’s.

El Paso County, Colo., sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Joe Roybal said investigators had found no evidence so far connecting the Texas killings to the Colorado case, but added: “We’re examining all possibilities.”

Colorado’s corrections director, Tom Clements, was killed March 19 when he answered the doorbell at his home outside Colorado Springs. Evan Spencer Ebel, a white supremacist and former Colorado inmate suspected of shooting Clements, died in a shootout with Texas deputies two days later about 100 miles from Kaufman.

McLelland himself, in an Associated Press interview shortly after the Colorado slaying, raised the possibility that Hasse was gunned down by a white supremacist gang.

The weekend slayings raised concerns for prosecutors across Texas, and some were taking extra security precautions. Byrnes said security would be increased at the courthouse in Kaufman but declined to say if or how other prosecutors in McLelland’s office would be protected.

Harris County District Attorney Mike Anderson said he accepted the sheriff’s offer of 24-hour security for him and his family after learning about the slayings, mostly over concerns for his family’s safety. Anderson said also would take precautions at his Houston office, the largest one in Texas, which has more than 270 prosecutors.

“I think district attorneys across Texas are still in a state of shock,” Anderson said Sunday.

McLelland, elected DA in 2010, said his office had prosecuted several cases against racist gangs, who have a strong presence around Kaufman County, a mostly rural area dotted with subdivisions, with a population of about 104,000.

“We put some real dents in the Aryan Brotherhood around here in the past year,” he said.

In recent years, the DA‘s office also prosecuted a case in which a justice …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Texas district attorney, wife, found dead in home, authorities say

Leave a comment

A North Texas district attorney and his wife were found dead Saturday at their home in the same county where an assistant district attorney was shot and killed outside a courthouse in January.

The Dallas Morning News reports thatKaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were found shot to death at their home outside Forney.

Kaufman Police Chief Chris Aulbaugh could not confirm that the deaths were related to the murder of Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, the paper reported.

A masked gunman shot Hasse multiple times in the parking lot behind the Kaufman County Courthouse annex on Jan. 31.

No arrests have been made in connection with Hasse’s murder, according to MyFoxDFW.com.

“It is a shock,” Aulbaugh said late Saturday, the Dallas Morning News reported. “It was a shock with Mark Hasse, and now you can just imagine the double shock and until we know what happened, I really can’t confirm that it’s related but you always have to assume until it’s proven otherwise.”

Sam Rosander, who lives in the same unincorporated area of Kaufman County as the McLellands, told The Associated Press that sheriff’s deputies were parked in the district attorney’s driveway for about a month after Hasse was killed.

Aulbaugh said recently that the FBI was checking to see if Hasse’s killing could be related to the killing of the head of Colorado’s prison system, Tom Clements, who was gunned down after answering the doorbell at his home.

Evan Spencer Ebel, a former Colorado inmate and white supremacist who authorities believe killed Clements, was gunned down in a March 21 shootout with Texas deputies about 100 miles from Kaufman.

Aulbaugh said at the time that the investigation into whether the cases were linked was routine for attacks that appear similar. Both targeted law enforcement officials. Authorities have investigated whether Hasse’s death could be linked to a white supremacist gang.

Aulbaugh had said there’s no indication that Hasse, 57, had been afraid he might be killed and, although the prosecutor was a licensed peace officer, officials refused to say whether he was carrying a weapon.

Hasse was chief of the organized crime unit when he was an assistant prosecutor in Dallas County in the 1980s, and he handled similar cases in Kaufman County, 33 miles southeast of Dallas.

McLelland had said Hasse was one of 12 attorneys on his staff, all of whom handle hundreds of cases at a time.

“Anything anybody can think of, we’re looking through,” McLelland said after the assistant prosecutor was killed.

In recent years, Hasse played major roles in Kaufman County‘s most high-profile cases, including one in which a justice of the peace was convicted on theft and burglary charges and another in which a man was convicted of killing his former girlfriend and her 10-year-old daughter.

Click here for more from The Dallas Morning News.

Click here for more from MyFoxDFW.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Troubled prison time for Colo suspect

Leave a comment

Behind bars, he was known as “Ebel Evil.”

Within a day of arriving at his first permanent prison, Evan Spencer Ebel, the suspect in last week’s slaying of Colorado’s prisons chief, got into a fight. Six months later, he told a female guard “that he would kill her if he ever saw her on the streets, and that he would make her beg for her life,” according to prison records released Thursday.

That was one of 28 different violations he racked up during his time behind bars, most of which was spent in solitary confinement. When Ebel was released Jan. 28 after serving his sentence — with a swastika tattooed on his stomach and the word “Hate” on one of his hands — prisons officials warned he had a high chance of reoffending.

Two months later, Ebel died in a shootout with Texas authorities. The gun he used was the same one that killed prison chief Tom Clements on March 19. Police also have linked Ebel to the slaying of a pizza delivery man just before that.

On Thursday, the woman who authorities believe gave Ebel his pistol, Stevie Marie Vigil, 22, appeared in court on charges of illegally giving a convicted felon a firearm. Her cousin Victor Baca told The Associated Press that he has known Ebel since elementary school and Vigil knew Ebel through him.

“I think he just intimidated her,” Victor Baca said, describing Vigil as a nursing student who hated guns. “Whether she bought the gun for protection because he possibly was going to hurt her, I don’t know.”

The details on Ebel’s eight years behind bars come from his prison record, which was released under an open records request. It shows that Ebel was a member of the 211 Crew, a white supremacist prison gang. The prisons system twice tried to get him out of solitary confinement by enrolling him in special programs designed to help offenders.

Both times, Ebel was removed from the program because of disciplinary problems and sent back to solitary. He was released directly from solitary confinement onto the streets.

Clements, a deeply religious man who believed in the redemptive power of incarceration, was dedicated to limiting solitary confinement.

“It is an unbelievably bitter irony … the thing he most wanted …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

From a young age, no one could tame Evan Ebel

Leave a comment

From a young age, no one could tame Evan Spencer Ebel.

His parents sent him to special camps in Utah, Jamaica and Samoa for children with behavioral problems. Neighbors in the middle-class suburbs west of Denver shied away from a kid they described as “a handful.”

By age 20, state prison had become Ebel’s home. There, he joined a white supremacist gang and ended up in solitary confinement, a place his parents believe soon began to eat away at his already troubled mind.

On Jan. 28, when his term was up, Ebel was set free.

Two months later, he is dead after a shootout with Texas authorities and is a suspect in the death of Colorado’s state prisons chief, who was gunned down when he answered the front door of his house. Investigators have said the gun used to in the Texas shootout was the same weapon used to kill Colorado’s prisons chief.

Now investigators are trying to piece together whether the final actions of the 28-year-old sprung from his own ideas or came at the direction of a prison gang — an idea some close to him reject.

His mother, Jody Mangue, says her son was more complicated than news media stories imply.

“He was not a follower by any means,” she posted in an online memorial site, suggesting that white inmates are often labeled members of such gangs even if they don’t join.

The Colorado Independent website quoted a former inmate and member of the prison gang who said Ebel had left the group and was having a hard time integrating back into society.

“He told me that he needed to release some anxiety,” the former inmate, Ryan Pettigrew, told the website, adding the killing did not seem like a gang hit. “He needed that violence as a release so he could calm down. He didn’t know any other way.”

Ebel’s parents haven’t returned calls to The Associated Press for comment. But stories from both can be found in an online blog that those close to the family have confirmed the mother wrote, and legislative testimony from the father, who had begged the state to change its solitary confinement rules.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Man suspected of killing Colorado prisons chief had bomb-making materials

Leave a comment

Investigators found bomb-making materials and bloody clothes in the car of a man suspected in the death of the Colorado prisons chief.

Documents made public Tuesday show that authorities also found documents from the Department of Corrections, maps and handwritten directions in Evan Spencer Ebel‘s car. Also found were parts of the uniform of a Domino’s Pizza worker, zip ties and duct tape.

Ebel was killed in a shootout with Texas authorities last week.

Authorities in Decatur sent the items to Colorado agencies investigating the death of corrections chief Tom Clements and the slaying of a pizza deliveryman whose body was found two days before Clements was killed.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Prison chief's death highlights safety concerns

Leave a comment

The recent shooting death of Colorado’s prison chief has focused attention on dangers faced by those who oversee prisons.

Prison guards, wardens and correctional system administrators have been targeted in the past, mostly by convicts freed after serving their sentence.

Authorities say a former Colorado inmate killed in a gun battle Thursday with Texas authorities is a suspect in the death of Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements. But officials stressed investigators had not yet confirmed a link between the crime and the suspect Evan Spencer Ebel.

It remains unclear whether Clements was targeted and why he was shot.

Correctional professionals interviewed in the aftermath of the shooting say the growing influence of prison gangs, their ability to communicate with affiliates on the outside and other factors have made the job even more dangerous.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

Articles of Interest

Colo. Gov: I Was Caught in 'Nightmare' of Shooting

Leave a comment

By Polly Davis Doig Still reeling from the shooting death of corrections chief Tom Clements , Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed some of the nation’s toughest gun laws into effect on Wednesday. Then it turned out that the suspect in Clements’ murder was Evan Spencer Ebel, the troubled son of a good friend of Hickenlooper… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home

Articles of Interest

Evan Spencer Ebel Officially Named Suspect In Colorado Corrections Director Tom Clements Slaying

Leave a comment

By The Huffington Post News Editors

DENVER — Colorado investigators on Saturday said for the first time that a former prison inmate who was killed in a gunfight with Texas authorities is a suspect in the death of Colorado’s state prison system chief.

The evidence gathered in Texas after the death of Evan Spencer Ebel provided a “strong, strong lead” in the fatal shooting of Colorado Department of Corrections director Tom Clements, who was killed at his front door, El Paso County sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Jeff Kramer said Saturday.

Read More…
More on Denver News

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post

News, Politics, Government

Man killed in Texas called suspect in Colo slaying

Leave a comment

Investigators are saying for the first time that a man who was killed in a gunfight with Texas authorities is a suspect in the shooting death of Colorado’s state prison system chief.

El Paso County sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Jeff Kramer said Saturday that evidence gathered in Texas after the death of Evan Spencer Ebel provides a “strong, strong lead” in the slaying of Tom Clements, director of the Colorado Department of Corrections.

Kramer stressed that investigators have not yet confirmed a link between Ebel and Clements’ death.

Clements was shot Tuesday night when he answered the door of his home in a rural area north of Colorado Springs.

Ebel, who was paroled from a Colorado prison in January, was fatally shot by authorities in Texas Thursday.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Attorney dad of dead suspect possibly linked to prison chief's killing friends with Colorado governor

Leave a comment

Attorney Jack Ebel testified before the Colorado Legislature two years ago that solitary confinement in a Colorado prison was destroying the psyche of his son, Evan.

When Jack Ebel‘s longtime friend, Gov. John Hickenlooper, was interviewing a Missouri corrections official for the top prisons job in Colorado, he mentioned the case as an example of why the prison system needed reform. And once Tom Clements came to Colorado, he eased the use of solitary confinement and tried to make it easier for people held there to re-enter society.

Now authorities are investigating whether Evan Spencer Ebel, who was paroled in January, is linked to the death of Clements, who was shot and killed Tuesday night when he answered the front door of his house in a rural neighborhood.

The bullet casings from that shooting are the same caliber and brand as those found at the site of a bloody gun battle Thursday between Evan Ebel and Texas law enforcement officers that ended with Ebel being shot and killed, according to court records.

Authorities said Friday they had not yet done ballistics tests on the shells to determine if the gun used in Texas was the same one used to kill Clements.

The car Ebel drove matched the description of the one spotted outside Clements’ house on the night of the prison director’s death. Authorities also found a Domino’s pizza delivery box in the trunk and a jacket or shirt from the pizza chain. Denver police say Ebel is now a suspect in the Sunday slaying of pizza delivery man Nathan Leon.

Hickenlooper confirmed his relationship with Jack Ebel to The Denver Post and KUSA-TV Friday evening and then in a written statement Friday night. State records show Ebel donated $1,050 to the governor’s 2010 campaign. But there’s no indication that Hickenlooper’s relationship with the Ebels played a role in the shooting.

Hickenlooper said he did not having any role in Evan Ebel‘s parole.

“Although Jack loved his son, he never asked me to intervene on his behalf and I never asked for any special treatment for his son,” Hickenlooper’s written statement said.

State prisons spokeswoman Alison Morgan said Evan Ebel was paroled Jan. 28 as part of a mandatory process after serving his full prison term. He had most recently been sentenced to four years for punching a prison guard in 2008, according to state records.

Hickenlooper said he never mentioned Ebel’s name to Clements or anyone else connected with the prisons system. He said he only heard about the role of his friend’s son Thursday night.

“I didn’t know Evan was out,” the governor told The Denver Post and KUSA, adding that he called Jack Ebel after being told of the connection. “He was distraught, he was devastated. I’ve never heard him so upset, and he’s had some hard things in his life.”

Lt. Jeff Kramer of the El Paso County sheriff’s office said Friday evening that he was unaware of the relationship between Hickenlooper and Ebel’s father.

Jack Ebel did not return multiple phone calls seeking comment.

A federal law enforcement official …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Investigators seek link between Texas shootout and Colorado prison director killing

Leave a comment

Investigators from three Colorado police agencies rushed to Texas to determine if a man identified as a parolee, who was critically wounded by Texas police after a 100-mph car chase, is linked to the killing of Colorado’s state prisons chief.

The black Cadillac the suspect drove, with Colorado license plates, matched the description of a car spotted outside Tom Clements‘ home in Monument, Colo., just before he was fatally shot while answering his front door Tuesday evening.

Evan Spencer Ebel, 28, was gravely wounded in the shootout with police Thursday. Authorities said he was not expected to survive and was hooked up to equipment for organ harvesting. Police told FOX31 Denver the suspect is “legally deceased.”

Colorado investigators immediately headed to Texas to determine whether Ebel was linked to Clements’ murder and the killing Sunday of Nathan Leon, a Denver pizza delivery man. Police in Colorado would only say the connection to the Leon case is strong but would not elaborate or say if they believe Ebel killed Clements and Leon.

A Dominos pizza box and uniform were reportedly found in the Cadillac, and investigators say whoever killed Clements may have used the uniform as a disguise to convince him to open the door, FOX31 Denver reported.

The Denver Post first reported Ebel’s name, and that he was in a white supremacist prison gang called the 211s. A federal law enforcement official confirmed his identity and gang affiliation to The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the case and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The killing of Clements, 58, shocked his quiet neighborhood in Monument, a town of rolling hills north of Colorado Springs, for its brutality: He answered the door of his home Tuesday evening and was gunned down. Authorities wouldn’t say if they thought the attack was related to his job, and all Clements’ recent public activities and cases were scrutinized.

The Texas car chase started when a sheriff’s deputy in Montague County, James Boyd, tried to pull over the Cadillac around 11 a.m. Thursday, authorities there said. They wouldn’t say exactly why he was stopped, but called it routine.

The Cadillac led police on a 35 mile chase down U.S. 287 and at times pointed a gun out the window firing at officers.

“He shot at me at least four times,” Decatur Police Chief Rex Hoskins told FOX31 Denver.

The driver opened fire on Boyd, wounding him, Wise County Sheriff David Walker said at an afternoon news conference in Decatur. He then fled south before crashing into a semi as he tried to elude his pursuers.

After the crash, he got out of the vehicle, shooting at deputies and troopers who had joined the chase. He shot at Hoskins four times as the chief tried to set up a roadblock.

“He wasn’t planning on being taken alive,” Hoskins said.

Boyd, the deputy who was shot, was wearing a bulletproof vest and was at a Fort Worth hospital, authorities said. Officials had said he wasn’t seriously injured but later said his condition was …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Texas shootout may tie to Colo. prison chief death

Leave a comment

Investigators from three Colorado police agencies rushed to Texas to determine if a man identified as a parolee, who was critically wounded by Texas police after a harrowing 100-mph car chase, is linked to the slaying of Colorado’s state prisons chief.

The black Cadillac the suspect drove, with Colorado license plates, matched the description of a car spotted outside Tom Clements‘ home in Monument, Colo., just before he was fatally shot while answering his front door Tuesday evening.

Evan Spencer Ebel, 28, was gravely wounded in the clash with police Thursday. Authorities said he was not expected to survive and was hooked up to equipment for organ harvesting.

Colorado investigators immediately headed to Texas to determine whether Ebel was linked to Clements’ slaying and the killing Sunday of Nathan Leon, a Denver pizza delivery man. Police in Colorado would only say the connection to the Leon case is strong but would not elaborate or say if they believe Ebel killed Clements and Leon.

The Denver Post first reported Ebel’s name, and that he was in a white supremacist prison gang called the 211s. A federal law enforcement official confirmed his identity and gang affiliation to The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the case and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The killing of Clements, 58, shocked his quiet neighborhood in Monument, a town of rolling hills north of Colorado Springs, for its brutality: He answered the door of his home Tuesday evening and was gunned down. Authorities wouldn’t say if they thought the attack was related to his job, and all Clements’ recent public activities and cases were scrutinized.

The Texas car chase started when a sheriff’s deputy in Montague County, James Boyd, tried to pull over the Cadillac around 11 a.m. Thursday, authorities there said. They wouldn’t say exactly why he was stopped, but called it routine.

The driver opened fire on Boyd, wounding him, Wise County Sheriff David Walker said at an afternoon news conference in Decatur. He then fled south before crashing into a semi as he tried to elude his pursuers.

After the crash, he got out of the vehicle, shooting at deputies and troopers who had joined the chase. He shot at Decatur Police Chief Rex Hoskins four times as the chief tried to set up a roadblock.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News