DENVER –Sources say the man suspected of killing Colorado Dept. of Corrections Director Tom Clements and Denver pizza delivery driver Nathan Leon may have had more targets.
They tell FOX31 Denver that they found a hit list among all of the other items in Evan Ebel’s vehicle. He died a week ago in a wild chase and shootout with deputies in Decatur, Texas.
The sources say the names on the hit list include some well-known attorneys and law enforcement officials associated with prosecuting members of the prison gang “211 crew.” Investigators have already said Ebel joined the same gang while he was in prison.
Ebel’s Prison Record Released
Prison records show the Evan Ebel, the suspect in two Colorado murders including the slaying of DOC director Tom Clements, attacked and threatened prison guards and had to be moved into isolation several times.
The records were made available Thursday and detail Ebel’s behavior in the 11 years he was in prison.
According to records from the Department of Corrections, Ebel first went to prison in February 2005 to serve an 11 year sentence for robbery and menacing charges out of Adams and Arapahoe counties.
He was classified as medium security — the second-lowest in the prison system.
That changed quickly, however, when in June, bad behavior, including two fights with other inmates and one incident when Ebel smeared “fecal matter on a cell door,” forced prison officials to move Ebel into closed custody, where his every move would be monitored by guards.
In November, nine months after entering prison, Ebel was moved into administrative segregation, prison parlance for solitary confinement.
Perhaps the most serious offense was on November 7, 2006, when Ebel “hit staff in face” causing a “cut to nose and finger.” Ebel also threatened a staff member and his or her family, the records show.
The following year, Ebel was given an additional 4 years in prison for the assault on a corrections officer.
Ebel mostly stayed in solitary confinement because of his violent behavior. During his time in prison, Ebel was charged with 28 Code of Penal Discipline violations including: threats (3), advocating facility disruption (10), verbal abuse (2), disobeying a lawful order (4), assault (3), fighting (2), unauthorized possession (1), damage to state property (2) and one charged related to inappropriate conduct, documents show.
However, corrections officials did give him opportunities to clean up his act.
In 2008, Ebel was reclassified to closed custody and moved to the Centennial correctional Facility Pro-Unit. The Pro-Unit is designed to enable offenders to step down and progress out of solitary confinement.
However, within a few months, he was taken out of the program because of bad behavior — including more fighting with inmates and another incident where guards had to use pepper spray to subdue him. He was placed back into administrative segregation.
In October 2011, Ebel was ordered to the Thinking for a Change program, another program designed to allow him to leave solitary confinement.
Ebel completed 15 of the 20 required classes but was again removed for “disciplinary reasons.”
On January 28, 2013, the day Ebel reached the end of his sentence, he was classified by prison officials as “max administrative segregation,” but by law he could no longer be held in jail.
Ebel was required to wear an ankle bracelet and follow the limitations of his parole including reporting to a parole officer. He could not drink alcohol or possess a firearm. The parole was to last 36 months.
Yet according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Ebel received a 9mm handgun from Stevie Vigil, 22. Vigil was arrested Wednesday on a charge of unlawful purchase of a firearm. It’s not clear yet how, if at all, Vigil knew Ebel.
What is clear from ballistics evidence is that the same 9mm handgun was used to kill pizza delivery driver Nathan Leon on March 17, authorities said.
The 9mm was also used to kill Clements, two days later, on March 19.
Ebel was then himself gunned down by Texas authorities on March 21 after fleeing Colorado and leading sheriff’s deputies on a high speed chase and shootout.
Click here to view Ebel’s full prison record.