PUEBLO — After the Pueblo Police Chief said "soft-on-crime" legislation contributed to a shootout that sent three officers to the hospital, one Colorado lawmaker said he's looking into any shortcomings in state laws to prevent this from happening again.
Pueblo Police said the suspect in Tuesday's shooting, Billy Soto, had an extensive criminal history and was wanted on an attempted murder charge from earlier this year. Officers said he was out on bond on three felony cases when officers approached him in the Bessemer neighborhood. Police said Soto shot three officers, then police returned fire and killed Soto.
The day after the shooting, Pueblo Police Chief Chris Noeller said the blood of his officers lay at the steps of the state capitol.
"When we refuse as a state to hold low-level criminals accountable, they become emboldened. Violent crime goes up and incidents like this assault are the result," said Chief Noeller during a press conference on Wednesday.
News5 followed up with the Pueblo Police Department to ask which laws Chief Noeller believes are soft on crime. The department sent a list of state legislation, including a 2021 bipartisan law lowering sentences for misdemeanor crimes, a 2021 law imposing sanctions for officers' failure to activate body-worn cameras, and a bill aiming to ban municipalities from imposing harsher penalties than state law for low-level offenses.
While the pieces of legislation do not have a direct tie to Tuesday's shooting, Chief Noeller says stricter punishments for low-level crimes may prevent people from committing felonies down the road.
Colorado State Senator Nick Hinrichsen, who represents Pueblo, said lawmakers have not reduced felony sentencing or bond scheduling for adult offenders. He said he's working to understand how the suspected shooter was out on the street.
"If we identify any shortcomings in statute that would have hindered the process or made it harder to keep him off of the streets, we're absolutely committed to bringing legislation to address that deficiency," said Sen. Hinrichsen.
Sen. Hinrichsen is sponsoring House Bill 25-1147 bill, mentioned above, which would ban municipal courts from having harsher penalties than state law for low-level offenses. He said right now penalties for crimes, like littering, loitering, and trespassing, can differ from one jurisdiction to the next, which he said is a liability under the equal protection clause in Colorado's constitution.
"We have seen people sentenced to several months at a time for these crimes that state statute limits to 10 days," said Sen. Hinrichsen.
Chief Noeller testified against the bill during a House Judiciary hearing on Feb. 26. He said the bill bars cities from being able to address crime trends specific to their communities.
"We have one man that in 2024 alone, received 29 citations, including two for indecent exposure, 14 for loitering, nine for trespassing, among other offenses," said Chief Noeller. "These offenses are continually occurring under the system we currently have. This will only become more exacerbated by a lowering of consequences."
Suspicious death investigation south of Colorado Springs now considered a homicide
The El Paso County Sheriff's Office says a suspicious death is now being investigated as a homicide.
