A 42-year-old man who was shot and killed by Fort Collins police during an armed confrontation at Grandview Cemetery in July is a suspect in an unsolved 2019 murder case, police officials said Friday.
Clayton Pierce was shot and killed by Fort Collins police on July 21 after he crashed his vehicle near City Park and fled the scene armed with an “AR-style” rifle and a pistol, according to a decision letter from the 8th Judicial District Attorney's Office released Friday.
Pierce was involved in a single-vehicle rollover accident and left the scene armed with two “ghost guns,” which are weapons without serial numbers that are illegal to possess, sell or manufacture.
According to the district attorney's letter, Pierce also carried a bottle of bourbon with the words “His Last Day” written on it.
He pointed the rifle at the police officers who were approaching him and shot one of them in the arm, the agency said. He then walked to Grandview Cemetery, where he was shot and killed by police.
At the time of his death, Pierce had twice the legal blood alcohol content for driving, as well as methamphetamine, THC and gabapentin in his blood, the letter said.
District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin found that Sergeant Brian Mallory and Officers Peter Nolan, August Barber and Cole Giandomenico of the Fort Collins Police Department were legally justified in using deadly force “to defend themselves, other officers and the public” against the threat posed by Pierce.
At the time of Pierce's death, Fort Collins police were “in the process of filing charges against him in connection with an unsolved 2019 murder case,” the police department said Friday.
Detectives concluded that there was “sufficient evidence” to arrest Pierce on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with the killing of Joseph “Sonny” Brigman.
According to the Fort Collins Coloradoan, Brigman, 62, died of a gunshot wound after being found unconscious in his apartment in the 4100 block of Verbena Way on the night of April 29, 2019.
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