DA: Fort Collins officers justified in fatal shooting

The Larimer County district attorney has determined three Fort Collins Police Services officers were justified in fatally shooting a man Aug. 25.

District Attorney Cliff Riedel released a letter Thursday detailing his findings in the officer-involved shooting just north of Fort Collins. Among them was that the suspect, Jerry Lee Jackson, 63, had told multiple people he would make police shoot him, according to the letter.

Riedel said the three involved FCPS officers — Bryan Brown, Allen Heaton and Nicholas Rogers — took "all reasonable steps" to disarm Jackson before firing their guns.

Jackson purchased a six-inch fillet knife from Jax Ranch and Home at 7:07 p.m. the night he was shot. Dispatch received a call 15 minutes later from Jackson's estranged wife, previously identified as Eddie Pearl Jackson.

Eddie Jackson, her sister and her female roommate were in a car and hiding from Jackson in the Jax Ranch and Home parking lot, where they had fled after the roommate entered the home she shares with Eddie Jackson and found Jerry Jackson armed with a knife. He followed them across U.S. Highway 287 to the parking lot and beat on the windows in an attempt to get into the car.

Eddie Jackson had filed police reports May 5 and Aug. 23 that alleged her husband had twice violated a protection order issued May 5. In the first incident, he allegedly tried to break into her home. In the second incident, he repeatedly called and left messages on her phone. In one message, he said, "You want me dead. That's what's going to happen." In another, he said he wouldn't be arrested by police.

"I'll make them shoot me first," he said.

Jerry Jackson also called his adult son in the week preceding the incident and told his son that he would die before he let police arrest him on outstanding warrants for violating the protection order.

He called his son again about two hours before he purchased the knife and told him to expect a phone call in the coming hours.

Jackson called his son again at 7:35 p.m., at which point he told his son that he had purchased a knife, crossed the street to his wife's house and planned to slit his throat if police tried to take him down. He told his son to get him before the cops did.

"If the cops get here before you, I am a dead man," he said.

Jackson made his final call from his wife's home as he watched officers arrive at Jax and talk to his estranged wife, according to the DA's report. Police saw him, crossed Highway 287 and approached him in her driveway. When they asked him to take his hands out of his pockets, he brandished the knife and they pulled out their guns.

At least 18 times, they commanded him to drop the knife and warned him they would shoot. He ignored them and continued to advance toward the officers.

Brown deployed his Taser, but only one of the two probes made contact. Heaton deployed his Taser, but it failed, too. They continued to back away from Jackson, but they came within feet of passing traffic. Jackson told them they would have to shoot him and continued to close the distance between them.

When he came within an unsafe distance, the three officers fired their guns — three times each — in less than a second.

Jackson fell to the pavement, the officers radioed for an emergency medical response and they began ultimately unsuccessful life-saving measures.

"Based upon the totality of the evidence, I find that Jerry Jackson committed the only criminal offenses during this incident," Riedel wrote.

Had he survived, he would have faced charges of menacing with a deadly weapon, second degree burglary, violation of a protection order and domestic violence, according to the letter.

"Through words and actions, it is clear that Jerry Jackson's intent was to force the police to shoot him," Riedel wrote.

The shooting was investigated by the multi-agency Critical Incident Response Team — headed in this case by the Larimer County Sheriff's Office — which then reported findings to the district attorney.

This was the third officer-involved shooting this year in Larimer County. In all three, Riedel has ruled officers' use of force was justified.

On March 29, Mark Bade allegedly brandished a samurai sword at a police officer who was responding to Bade's argument with neighbors. Officer Tom Colvin fired a single shot that became lodged in the apartment's wall. Bade, who was uninjured in the incident, was charged with felony menacing. He entered a guilty plea in July and received a deferred sentence.

On Jan. 30, Philip Salazar was fatally shot when he brandished a knife and lunged at officers after a standoff involving a female hostage.

Riedel's office issues opinions on all officer use-of-force investigations in Larimer County. Thursday's decision is the 13th of such opinions issued by the district attorney's office since June 2011, according to its website. In each, the office said the officer use of force was justified.