A man was arrested earlier Tuesday after allegedly breaking into the building of the Colorado Supreme Court, discharging a firearm and igniting a small fire. This incident comes shortly after the apex court’s decision to disqualify former President Donald Trump from Colorado’s presidential ballot.
The arrestee is reported to have held an unarmed security guard at gunpoint as a means to gain access to the building, and allegedly fired several shots within the premises. The incident, according to the Denver 7, started in the early hours of Tuesday after a two-car collision near the Supreme Court building. The suspect was involved in this accident and allegedly threatened the other driver with a firearm before shooting at the Supreme Court building.
The suspect was apprehended following an emergency call he made, voluntarily surrendering to the police nearly a couple of hours after the initial incident. He was subsequently admitted to a local hospital for evaluation, as per official reports. The Colorado State Troopers, who also arrived on the scene, reported significant damages to the building.
Despite the incident’s timing, Colorado State Patrol issued a press release stating their belief that the course of events were likely not a reaction to threats made against the Colorado Supreme Court justices following the verdict to eliminate former president Trump’s name from the presidential ballot. As the Jurist reports, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in December that Trump was disqualified from the office of presidency and consequently from the 2024 Colorado presidential primary ballot. This was based on the US constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment “insurrection clause”, which disbars candidates from office who have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion”.
The decision to disqualify Trump triggered threats of violence against the court’s justices, which have been undergoing investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). As a response to accelerating violent rhetoric associated with the decision, the Colorado Republican State Central Committee has appealed to the US Supreme Court seeking to overturn the decision.