The stepdad and brother of a man who killed three people on Halloween morning in Colorado Springs were on their way to Colorado that day to arrange to have Noah Harpham hospitalized after growing concerned that his diagnosed mental illness was escalating.
But before they arrived, 33-year-old Harpham had opened fire outside his home, walked across several blocks killed in a shootout with police officers.
The investigation was completed and released Tuesday. Prosecutors cleared four Colorado Springs officers who fired their weapons killing Harpham to end the 15-minute spree.
In the released report from the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, in coordination with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, officials wrote that the police officers that responded that day prevented “further carnage.”
“Their actions were not only justified; they were heroic,” the report states.
Just before the shootings started, a neighbor spotted Harpham carrying a long gun, what appeared to be gas cans, and saw him going in and out of the business below his house through a broken front glass door.
The woman called 911, but because Harpham did not appear threatening to any person at the time, the 911 call ended.
“The call taker informed Bettis that officers would be dispatched as soon as possible,” the report states. Information released earlier has shown the call was marked as non-emergent meaning officers were not immediately dispatched.
Minutes later, Harpham when Myers confronted Harpham about the gun he was carrying.
Walking away, Harpham came across two women, Jennifer Michelle Vasquez, 42 and Christina Rose Baccus-Gallela, 34, sitting on a porch. He shot and killed both. All three victims were shot with an AR-15 rifle purchased legally in 2009.
The first two officers to encounter Harpham did not fire at him, “after they both saw an unarmed civilian walking his dog in the line of fire. Additionally, they were concerned about the backdrop of their handgun rounds hitting the Wendy’s Restaurant at 222 North Wahsatch,” according to the report.
Minutes later, two groups of training officers with their trainees — recently graduated from the police academy — confronted Harpham, who refused commands to drop his gun and who started shooting at the officers. Investigators reviewed video footage of nearby businesses that caught the final confrontation on tape. “The audio clearly demonstrates Harpham shoots at the officers first,” the report states.
According to the completed investigation report, Harpham had called his ex-girlfriend early the morning of October 31. The woman did not answer. Days earlier, Harpham’s mom had contacted the ex-girlfriend and warned her to avoid contact with Harpham.
Harpham’s mother, Heather Kopp, had also contacted her son’s psychiatrist, and had been asking about the possibility of getting police to assist in hospitalizing her son, but was told it wouldn’t be possible.
“We were told by both Dr. Everett and the Cedar Springs Mental Health Center that unless Noah was a threat to himself or others (which he wasn’t) the police wouldn’t be able to assist us,” Kopp is quoted as telling police. She further stated, he was having “…manic delusions of grandeur and (was) in need of medical help.”
