PUEBLO COUNTY, Colorado — The Pueblo County Coroner has identified the man killed in a shooting in the parking lot of a local grocery store last week.
Fred Ettleman, 79, died after being transported to the hospital.
Ettleman was an insurance agent for State Farm, a business that he started in Rye more than 50 years ago. He was still on the job when he was killed Friday night.
An Army veteran who served in Vietnam, Ettleman told the Greenhorn Valley View on the 50th anniversary of his business in November of 2021 that he moved to Rye after leaving the military and working briefly at the steel mill in Pueblo.
Pastor Jeff Moats of the Greenhorn Valley Baptist Church said Ettleman was a long-time member who'd previously volunteered as a Sunday school teacher, and more recently, as a lay elder. His funeral will be held at the church later this week.
Homicide detectives with the Pueblo Police Department released photographs Saturday of a black Ford Mustang that they are searching for in connection with the shooting.
The department could not release additional details about the crime when contacted by News 5 on Wednesday.
Ettleman's friends and neighbors told News 5 he loved the community. He worked with a group of businessmen earlier in his career to bring a bank to the Greenhorn Valley. The bank has changed ownership over the years and is now owned by the Bank of the San Juans. Ettleman opened a second State Farm location in Walsenburg in the 1990's.
Fred Ettleman is survived by his wife and two sons.
If anyone who recognizes the Ford Mustang or knows who may have been driving or it last Friday, please call Detective Ron Gravatt at 719-553-3254 .
To remain anonymous, call Pueblo Crime Stoppers at 719-542 STOP (7867.)
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