Three children hiding in a basement with their mother and grandfather barricaded themselves in after their father showed up at the house in Watkins with a handgun and killed two people, sheriff’s officials said Friday.
“He went over there uninvited and unannounced,” Arapahoe County Undersheriff Mark Campbell said. “We are looking at all angles.”
Christopher Hawkins, the 31- year-old stepbrother of the mother, and Cory Reed, 18, a friend of the family, died in the shooting Thursday. A fourth, unrelated child and the mother’s sister also hid in the basement.
Jason William Bondurant, 25, was arrested at the home and faces charges including first-degree murder, burglary, kidnapping and felony menacing. If convicted, he could receive life in prison or the death penalty.
Sarah Cole, the mother, had a long-term relationship with the suspect, Campbell said. She and Bondurant were listed at the same residence several years ago, according to records.
Cole’s father, Fred Hawkins, called 911 after shots were fired at the front door of their home 25 miles east of Denver.
“What it looks like is the two victims had some sort of encounter at the front-door area,” Campbell said.
After the shooting, the suspect apparently was shut out of the house and repeatedly tried to re-enter. The dispatcher told Hawkins to bring the six other people to a safer place in the house until deputies could arrive, Campbell said.
A family member reached at the house Friday declined to comment.
Sheriff’s deputies encountered a locked gate at the entrance to the rural subdivision, but they entered a code provided to them.
Campbell said he assumed the suspect knew the code.
The first deputies to arrive found the suspect holding a gun in the front yard, where he surrendered. A second group of deputies went around to the back of the house to attempt a rescue of the people barricaded in the basement. They were found unharmed.
“We didn’t know if there was more than one shooter,” Campbell said.
The two bodies were found inside the house near the front door.
Bondurant is being held at the Arapahoe County Detention Center.
Staff writer Abbe Smith can be reached at 303-820-1201 or asmith@denverpost.com.
