GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) - Colorado should change the rules for jailing dangerous suspects after a state trooper was shot and wounded by a man who was free on bond in connection with another shooting, law-enforcement officers said.
Trooper Eugene Hofacker was shot Thursday by Thomas Albert Ornelas during a routine traffic stop in Garfield County, Colorado, authorities said. Another trooper shot and killed Ornelas.
Hofacker, 31, remained in critical but stable condition Saturday.
Ornelas, 40, of Montrose was free on bond after his arrest in a 2013 shooting in Mesa County. He had also been convicted of second-degree murder in a 1990 case in Denver, but he had completed his sentence.
Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey, who will soon take over the state Department of Public Safety, said risk should be a key factor in deciding whether someone is released on bond, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported Saturday (https://tinyurl.com/mjy832b).
“There needs to be an extra layer of due process, a hearing to make a finding that holding someone without bail is in the interest of public safety because of risk,” Hilkey said.
Gov. John Hickenlooper announced Thursday that Hilkey will become executive director of the Department of Public Safety on June 16. Hilkey will oversee the State Patrol, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the state divisions responsible for fire prevention, homeland security, emergency management and criminal justice.
Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario said Ornelas has been repeatedly jailed and released.
“I mean, what’s wrong with that picture?” Vallario said. “We put him in jail, we let him out. We put him in jail, we let him out.”
Ornelas was a teenager at the time of the 1990 slaying, but he was prosecuted as an adult and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
He was paroled in 2002 but put back in prison for violating the terms of his release. Ornelas was paroled again in 2004, and his sentence was declared complete in October 2005.
In March 2013, Ornelas was arrested in connection with a drive-by shooting in a trailer park in Fruita. He was charged with attempted second-degree murder, criminal mischief, menacing and other counts.
He was free on $75,000 bond at the time Hofacker was shot. His trial was scheduled to start Sept. 15.
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Information from: The Daily Sentinel, https://www.gjsentinel.com
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