MONUMENT — El Paso County Sheriff's Office deputies involved in September's fatal shooting of 20-year-old David Page in Monument have been cleared of any charges, according to the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office.
Monument police officers and El Paso County deputies were called to the 200 block of 2nd Street just after 3 p.m. Sept. 29 after receiving calls that a person was firing an air assault rifle at pedestrians and vehicles from inside a residence.
Documents from the District Attorney's Office stated a neighbor told authorities Page had been yelling and breaking things early that morning. Another neighbor said the disturbance had been going on since 1 or 2 a.m.
Officers from the Palmer Lake Police Department and Colorado State Patrol also responded to the scene, and the SWAT team was called in after the suspect, now identified as Page, barricaded himself in the home.
CSPD says when officers first tried to make contact with Page he fired multiple times at a Sheriff's Office cruiser with a deputy inside, causing damage to the front windshield and shattering a door window.
Documents state two SWAT team members fired at Page. Deputy C. Wheat fired three times and Deputy R. Gonzales fired two times.
Page was hit three times and pronounced dead at the scene. According to documents from the DA's Office, police learned later on that the suspected semi-automatic pistol was an inoperable airsoft bb gun. The orange safety cap was colored black to appear like a real weapon.
Page's mother said she is left with more questions than answers following the report, and believes officers knew her son had a mental health history. "It's very hard for me to know what to say to two people who took my baby. I'm a lot less angry with them than I am with the system," said Crystina Page.
The family's lawyer, Joshua Tolini, said they have requested any documents, emergency call logs, and body camera footage that may be available for them to review. Depending on what they find, he said they could take the case to federal court. "We have to really look and revamp how we're dealing with people with mental illness, and specifically how law enforcement is dealing with people with mental illness. This is a kid with a toy gun who's dead, and he's dead because he suffered from mental illness," said Tolini.
The deputies involved were placed on routine administrative leave, per EPSO policy.
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