The human-sparked Pearl fire burning west of Fort Collins in Larimer County is 75% contained, fire officials announced Saturday.
The Pearl fire — a wildfire that started on private property in Larimer County on Monday — is burning on 128 acres of land near Red Feather Lakes, fire officials said. That’s nearly the same size as 97 football fields put together.
Containment isn’t the end of a wildfire, it’s merely the status of a control line being completed around the fire that can stop the flames’ spread. A wildfire can continue to burn for days or weeks after being fully contained.
Larimer County officials are still investigating what started the Pearl fire but said it was human-caused.
As rain and snow move in Saturday afternoon on northern Colorado — creating more favorable firefighting conditions — the Incident Management Team plans to reduce the number of resources assigned to the fire, according to a news release from the U.S. Forest Service.
Residents in the Crystal Lakes area living off of Pearl Beaver Road, Bear Ridge Drive, Mount Hellene Drive and near Deadman Lookout remain on mandatory evacuation orders Saturday, according to the county evacuation map.
The Forest Service also issued a closure order for the immediate fire area.
Investigators determined the woman died “under suspicious circumstances” from an assault on Sept. 7 and identified Jasmane Taylor as a suspect through witness interviews and surveillance video.
Taylor was arrested Friday during an unrelated investigation and is currently in custody at the Downtown Detention Center on a $1,000,000 cash bond, according to jail records.
The suspect in Thursday’s fatal hostage situation and shootout at Broomfield’s Arista Flats apartment complex and the woman he held hostage lived in the same apartment, property managers said.
In an email to residents, Arista Flats management said the hostage and gunman lived together, but the relationship between the two is still unknown.
“As you likely know, there was a domestic violence incident in our community early in the morning of Sept. 12, 2024, that involved a male resident firing shots inside and outside of a unit and injuring a female resident who resided in the same unit,” management wrote in the email. “The incident ended after a short stand-off with law enforcement and the resident was taken into custody.”
The hours-long standoff with police at the Arista Flats complex ended with the death of the woman hostage and police taking a seriously injured gunman into custody.
Police did not specify who shot the woman, but said Thursday at least one Broomfield officer fired his weapon at the suspect.
Police have not publically identified the gunman and the woman he’d held hostage, but Broomfield Police Department spokeswoman Rachel Haslett said criminal charges against the 34-year-old suspect “are forthcoming.”
Residents who were evacuated from Arista Flats during Thursday’s hostage situation and investigation can return home Friday, police said.
The number of residents evacuated from the apartment complex was not available Friday.
Officers set up a ladder at the scene of a shooting and hostage situation at Broomfield apartment complex Arista Flats in Broomfield, Colorado on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
The south stairwell in building 15 of Arista Flats — 11332 Central Court — remains closed for the investigation, police said. Residents can use any other entrance.
Police are searching for a 16-year-old cognitively impaired Commerce City boy who was reported missing Monday.
Liam Sweezey, 16, was last seen walking in the 14000 block of East 104th Avenue in Commerce City around 6 p.m. Monday, according to an alert from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
The 16-year-old is described as a white, 6-foot, 160-pound teenager with black hair and brown eyes.
Sweezey was last seen wearing a black hoodie sweatshirt, black jeans and a white hat, investigators said in the alert. The teenager was also carrying a black handbag.
Police said Sweezey has cognitive impairments and requires medication.
Anyone with information on Sweezey’s whereabouts should call 911 or the Commerce City Police Department at 303-288-1535.
A Colorado State Patrol trooper was injured Saturday afternoon after he was shot while in his patrol vehicle in Westminster, according to the agency.
The trooper shot the suspect, who died at the scene, according to the news release. The suspect has not yet been publicly identified.
The shooting occurred at about 1:18 p.m. The trooper was parked in the center median on U.S. 36, west of Federal Blvd., when a car drove by and shot several rounds at him. One bullet hit the trooper, according to the news release.
The driver of the car then pulled over on a shoulder and the suspect exited and began firing again at the windshield of the patrol vehicle. The trooper then exited his car and fired back at the shooter, according to the news release.
The trooper was transported to a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, according to the release.
U.S. 36 is closed while police conduct their investigation, according to the news release.
A mama bear was fatally shot by a San Juan County sheriff’s deputy in Silverton this week after a beanbag round used to haze wildlife penetrated her stomach.
Several people called 911 just after 9 p.m. Tuesday to report someone harassing bear cubs near the 1300 block of Greene Street, the sheriff’s office said Thursday.
A deputy arrived to find a crowd of people in a narrow alley with a mama bear and her two cubs and directed the bystanders to leave the area before using a beanbag round to get the sow off the roof.
As the bear headed down the block with her cubs, the officer used a second beanbag round to keep her moving out of downtown. The second shot penetrated the bear’s lower abdomen and killed her, the sheriff’s office said.
Sheriff’s officials contacted Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers, who removed the bear and captured, tagged and relocated the two cubs.
“The officer involved was acting accordingly, using commonly practiced methods, and attempting to save this bear’s life, not cause any serious harm. This is a most unfortunate incident, and our entire office is saddened by the outcome,” agency officials said in a statement.
While orphaned bear cubs can be taken to a wildlife rehabilitation center in Del Norte, wildlife officers determined the two cubs could be released immediately, said CPW spokesperson John Livingston.
“These cubs were in good body condition, at a great weight for this time of year and released to a place with ample natural forage to continue to pack on weight ahead of denning this winter,” Livingston said.
While bear sightings are not uncommon in town, Silverton Mayor Dayna Kranker issued a statement calling for community members to form a coalition to reduce harm from human-wildlife interactions.
Three people were killed after the driver of a Jeep Grand Cherokee hit two Colorado Department of Transportation employees working outside their vehicle on U.S. 6 near Palisade.
Colorado State Patrol troopers responded to a fatal crash on westbound U.S. 6 between Palisade and Clifton in Mesa County around 10:42 a.m. Wednesday, agency officials said in a news release.
Investigators determined the driver of the Jeep Grand Cherokee struck two CDOT workers who were working outside of their vehicle and then hit a parked CDOT vehicle, causing the Jeep to roll.
The CDOT vehicle was parked off the right side of the road, CSP officials said.
One person in the Jeep was taken to the hospital and a second person in the Jeep died at the scene. Both CDOT workers died at the scene.
Troopers are still investigating the cause of the crash, according to the agency.
One person died and another was injured in a Thursday morning, single-vehicle crash in Denver’s Windsor neighborhood.
Officers responded to reports of a crash near South Clinton Street and East Alameda Avenue early Thursday morning, according to a 12:36 a.m. statement from the Denver Police Department.
The intersection is just north of the Windsor Gardens Community Center and northeast of Windsor Lake.
One car was involved in the crash, but paramedics took two people to the hospital with serious injuries, police said. Police did not specify if the second person involved in the crash was a passenger or a pedestrian.
A 42-year-old man fatally shot by Fort Collins police during an armed confrontation at Grandview Cemetery in July was a suspect in a 2019 cold-case homicide, police officials said Friday.
Pierce was involved in a single-vehicle rollover crash and left the scene armed with two “ghost guns,” or guns without serial numbers, which are illegal to own, sell or create.
Pierce was also carrying a bottle of bourbon with the words “His last day” written on it, according to the district attorney’s letter.
He pointed the rifle at responding police officers and shot one officer in the arm, according to the agency. He then walked into Grandview Cemetery, where he was fatally shot by police.
Pierce had twice the legal driving limit of alcohol as well as methamphetamine, THC and gabapentin in his system at the time of his death, according to the letter.
District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin found Fort Collins Police Services Sgt. Brian Mallory and Officers Peter Nolan, August Barber and Cole Giandomenico were legally justified in using deadly force “to defend themselves, other officers and the public at large” from the threat posed by Pierce.
At the time of Pierce’s death, Fort Collins police were “in the process of formalizing charges” against him in connection to a 2019 cold-case homicide, the police agency said Friday.
Detectives determined there was “sufficient evidence” to arrest Pierce on suspicion of first-degree murder in the death of Joseph “Sonny” Brigman.
Brigman, 62, died from a gunshot wound after he was found unresponsive in his apartment in the 4100 block of Verbena Way the night of April 29, 2019, according to the Fort Collins Coloradoan.
Thornton police officers shot and injured an armed man allegedly resisting arrest Tuesday night.
Around 8 p.m. Tuesday, Thornton officers approached a man with a warrant in a parking lot in the 200 block of East 120th Avenue — just west of Interstate 25 near Webster Lake — according to a news release from the police department.
Officers told the man he was under arrest, but he refused to listen to officers and attempted to walk away, the news release stated.
The police department said officers fired a taser at the man, but it was “ineffective.” When the man allegedly pulled out a handgun in response, multiple officers shot him.
Paramedics transported the man to a hospital with “serious injuries,” police said in the release. An update on his condition was not available Wednesday morning.
The 17th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team will investigate the shooting and the officers’ use of force.
None of the officers were injured, and all have been placed on administrative leave during the investigation, police said. The number of officers involved in the shooting was not available Wednesday.
Lumumba Sayers, 46, is charged with first-degree murder and two counts of felony menacing in the Saturday shooting death of Malcolm Watson near Paradice Island Pool at Pioneer Park.
He appeared in Adams County District Court on Thursday, where a judge increased his bail from $1 million to $5 million.
According to an arrest affidavit and witness statements made in court Thursday, Watson was carrying party supplies for his son’s birthday at the pool at 5951 Monaco St. when Sayers walked up to him and shot him multiple times, including once in the head.
After shooting Watson, Sayers went to talk with a man and a woman in a black Cadillac Escalade parked nearby before returning to Watson’s body, taking his keys and trying to place a handgun under his body, according to the affidavit.
Commerce City police officers arrived on scene to find Sayers crouching over Watson before he started to walk toward the Escalade, according to the affidavit.
Officers arrested him after witnesses began yelling that he was the shooter. Watson was pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses told detectives they believed the shooting was retaliation or revenge for the death of Sayers’ son, 23-year-old Lumumba Sayers Jr., who was killed almost a year ago in a shooting involving one of Watson’s friends, according to the affidavit.
In response to an inquiry about Braxton’s case, the Denver District Attorney’s Office stated “no such records exist,” which is the only response prosecutors can provide under Colorado law when a case has been sealed.
Braxton is on trial in federal court in Denver this week for a weapons charge related to the August 2023 shooting, according to court records.
He was indicted by a grand jury in January on one count of possession of ammunition by a prohibited person, court records show.
The trial is scheduled to wrap up this week, court officials said Thursday.
The center, which described the elder Sayers as a founder in social media posts, is “a safe place where youth and adults are provided with basic needs, educational and career support, health resources, recreational and outreach services to assist with creating jobs and a building a sustainable life,” according to a description on its Facebook page.
Defense attorneys argued Sayers was an “exceptional” man and defended his character and position in the community during Thursday’s hearing, while prosecutors argued he was a danger to the community and Watson’s family as well as a flight risk.
Adams County District Court Judge Jeffrey Ruff ordered a $5 million cash-only bail, calling it the “only bond acceptable” in the case.
Sayers’ next court date was not available Thursday.
A fatal crash in Denver’s Marston neighborhood left one person dead and sent another to the hospital, police said Wednesday night.
Denver officers are investigating the fatal crash — which happened near the intersection of West Belleview Avenue and South Dudley Street, just west of South Wadsworth Way and Marston Lake — the police department said in a 9:25 p.m. statement Wednesday.
After the motorcycle and car collided, paramedics pronounced the motorcyclist dead at the scene and took one passenger from the car to the hospital, police said. The passenger’s injuries are unknown at this time.
No information on what caused the crash was available Thursday morning.
The intersection was closed for multiple hours Wednesday night for the crash investigation.
A Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office K-9 bit a child and the child’s father after escaping from his handler’s backyard in Castle Rock on Sunday.
Around 4 p.m. Sunday, the dog escaped its outdoor enclosure at his handler’s home in Castle Rock and jumped over a 5-foot fence separating the backyard from a neighboring yard.
The dog bit a child and the child’s father who tried to intervene, the sheriff’s office said in a news release Wednesday. The handler “gained control” of the dog after realizing he had escaped.
Both the child and his father were treated at a hospital and are recovering at home, according to the sheriff’s office.
The agency is cooperating with an investigation by the Castle Rock Police Department as well as conducting an internal investigation.
The handler, who was not named in the news release, is on paid administrative leave. The dog is in a 10-day quarantine and barred from contact with humans other than the handler and all animals.
Sheriff’s officials are reviewing the dog’s future as a member of the K-9 unit, agency officials said Wednesday.
“We are devastated by this incident and are fully committed to supporting the family during their recovery,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The flaming carcass of an electrocuted bird was determined to be the cause of a July brush fire in Arapahoe County that burned more than 1,100 acres and destroyed property southeast of Byers, according to a report released Friday by the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office.
The Quail Hollow Fire report, issued by the Byers Fire Protection District and the Strasburg Fire Protection District, said on the morning of July 13, a small bird came into contact with an energized electrical pole on the south side of 2490 S. Quail Hollow Drive.
The bird’s flaming body then fell into vegetation at the base of the power pole which provided the initial fuel for the fire, the report said.
Dry vegetation, heavy fuel load in the area, winds and the local topography allowed the fire to spread, the report said.
The fire was ruled accidental.
One residential home and at least twelve outbuildings were destroyed in the blaze, the report said.
Byers and Strasburg Fire responded to the fire around 10:09 a.m. and reported a “slow-moving fire in medium fuels moving to the south.”
Minutes later, the fire was upgraded to “large brush fire” when flames reached heavy timbers, the report said. The I-70 corridor large brush fire response was activated and mutual aid resources were requested as the fire grew and moved.
The Denver Police Department responded to a call about a water rescue at the park at 3500 Rockmont Drive at 12:11 a.m., said spokesperson Katherine McCandless. The South Platte River runs through the park.
Police were investigating the woman’s death as a homicide as of Thursday afternoon, but further details about the woman’s death were not immediately available.
Anyone with information about the incident may call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.
Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies are going door to door to evacuate residents along South Turkey Creek Road for a growing wildfire that closed U.S. 285 in both directions.
U.S. 285 is closed near Indian Hills as crews fight a 3-acre wildfire, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said in a post on X.
Deputies are evacuating residents along South Turkey Creek Road to U.S. 285.
The highway is closed between Surrey Drive and Summer Road, south of Morrison, the Colorado Department of Transportation said in a travel alert.
Wildland fire in #Jeffco along Hwy 285. Fire size is currently 3 acres and growing. Hwy 285 closed in both directions for fire suppression efforts. Two helicopters working the fire along with multiple ground crews. Door to door evacuations along S. Turkey Creek to Hwy 285. pic.twitter.com/omfLKR4EbA
A 60-year-old Aurora man was arrested on suspicion of sexual exploitation of a child following a police sting, according to Fort Collins police.
Roger Leon Estergaard was arrested on suspicion of internet sexual exploitation of a child, internet luring of a child and attempted sexual assault of a child, all felonies, Fort Collins police said in a news release Thursday.
Investigators claim Estergaard was identified through “inappropriate engagement with an underaged online persona” and that he traveled to Fort Collins believing he was meeting a juvenile girl for sex.
He was arrested Thursday after arriving at a predetermined meeting place, according to Fort Collins police.
Fire officials ordered evacuations in Arapahoe County Saturday after a brush fire burning southeast of Byers spread to at least one home and threatened others.
Multiple fire departments and the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s office responded to a brush fire Saturday morning in the 2400 block of South Quail Hollow Road, according to an 11:20 a.m. statement from the sheriff’s office.
South Metro Fire Rescue said seven crews responded to support Byers Fire Rescue in wildland and structure fire protection.
“The fire, which is currently about the size of a football field, is burning several hundred yards from homes,” sheriff’s officials said when crews first arrived on scene.
By 11:42 a.m., the fire had spread to at least one home and sheriff’s officials said more may be involved.
Deputies have evacuated a three-mile area near County Road 193 and County Road 34, sheriff’s officials said.
As of 11:45 a.m., no injuries had been reported and the fire was burning in the southeast direction.
State officials responded to a report of an abandoned truck and trailer near the reservoir’s west boat ramp around 10 a.m. and found what appeared to be a body floating in the water nearby.
Agency staff recovered the man’s body and searched the area with sonar to make sure there were no other bodies, CPW said in a news release.
The man’s identity and cause of death will be released by the Bent County Coroner’s Office. The man was not wearing a life jacket, according to CPW.
