CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — It’s been a few weeks since video from the deadly shooting of Christian Glass was publicized. Now, the sheriff says his office is working with the county to develop a crisis response team.
Sheriff Rick Albers said in a statement on Wednesday that his office is working with Clear Creek commissioners “in the research of a development of a crisis response team for our county.”
This comes months after Glass’ killing early in the summer. The 22-year-old had called 911 for help, and he showed signs of paranoia in a standoff with deputies that lasted more than an hour before he was killed.
“The incident has been a tragedy for everyone. It is our intention to maintain the integrity and transparency of the investigation, and by doing that, we must be impartial,” Albers said.
The public has been asking why a crisis intervention team was not called in this case. Neighboring Jefferson and Summit counties have teams, but Clear Creek does not.
The attorneys representing Glass’ parents sent FOX31 a statement Wednesday that said, in part, “Had a Crisis Response Team been in place in June of 2022, Christian would be alive today.”
The attorneys claim that two years ago, in a separate police shooting, a grand jury recommended that the county develop a crisis response team. The FOX31 Problem Solvers are looking into this shooting and grand jury report and will publish what’s learned.
What happened before Christian Glass was shot
Glass was killed in June, but his family released video from the shooting last month. Glass, who appeared in the videos to be suffering from a mental health crisis, had called 911 for help after getting his vehicle stuck in Silver Plume. He told dispatchers that he had knives and a hammer in the vehicle and that he would throw them out, but deputies who arrived on the scene told him not to.
For more than an hour, he refused to get out of the vehicle, telling officers that he was “terrified” and making heart shapes with his hands. At one point, he also can be seen praying with folded hands and saying, “Dear Lord, please, don’t let them break the window.” When the officers did break the window, Glass seemed to panic and grabbed a knife.
Police then shot Glass with bean bag rounds and shocked him with a stun gun before the young man twisted in his seat and thrust a knife toward an officer, the video showed. Then one deputy fired his gun, hitting Glass. The recordings then show Glass stabbing himself before he died.
What’s next in the Christian Glass investigation
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the shooting, which will then go to the Fifth Judicial District Attorney’s Office to decide what to do next, “whether to issue a report, present the case to a grand jury or further investigation,” Albers said in the statement on Wednesday.
The deputy who fired the shots was back on patrol within days.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
