The Denver police officer charged with three counts of attempted murder for allegedly firing her gun at three law officers in South Dakota remained on the Police Department force despite an earlier history of improper use of a firearm.
Kachina McAlexander, 31, was arrested Tuesday for allegedly firing her gun several times at officers at a motel near Custer, S.D. That state’s attorney general, Larry Long, said the officers were checking on her and found her with a gun in her hand.
Two Custer County deputies and a Highway Patrol officer were not hurt. McAlexander was arrested and remained in jail Friday.
She is charged with three counts of attempted second-degree murder and three counts of aggravated assault against a law-enforcement officer. No bond was set pending a mental-health evaluation.
Both Long’s office and Custer County officials declined to comment further or to release an incident report.
According to a police affidavit acquired by 9News, McAlexander refused to put her gun down when law officers arrived outside her Super 8 motel room. The police had been called because McAlexander’s mother had said she was concerned about her welfare after a phone call.
McAlexander was hit by a Taser and then fired 10 shots at officers who had backed away from the door, the affidavit said. She surrendered and said that “she instinctly returned fire,” the affidavit said.
Adams County court records show that on June 6, 2006, authorities charged McAlexander with prohibited use of a weapon, a class 2 misdemeanor, and reckless endangerment, a class 3 misdemeanor, after she shot up her basement walls and television in the basement of her house.
Court testimony said that on that date, McAlexander summoned her girlfriend to her home to pick up her belongings. When the woman showed up, she found a suicide note on the front door, the testimony said.
The woman called the Adams County Sheriff’s Department, and when deputies entered the home, they found McAlexander alive but lying down in the basement. They also discovered that McAlexander had fired several shots from a semiautomatic handgun into the walls and the television.
A county-court judge acquitted McAlexander, stating that no reasonable jury would find her actions sufficient for a conviction.
The office of Adams County District Attorney Don Quick appealed the acquittal, but on April 16, 2007, Adams County District Court Judge Chris Melonakis rejected the appeal.
Denver Safety Manager Al LaCabe, who oversees the Police Department, and Deputy Chief John Lamb said they were prohibited from discussing how the department handled the incident. But it is clear that McAlexander remained on the force.
Detective Sharon Avendano, a spokeswoman for the Police Department, said McAlexander has been suspended from the force without pay pending an internal-affairs investigation.
Avendano said McAlexander worked in the department’s records unit, in the bureau of research, training and development.
Avendano said that as a sworn officer, McAlexander was authorized to carry a police-issued firearm.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
