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Indictment unsealed for 2 deputies in fatal shooting of Christian Glass

A grand jury indicted former Clear Creek County Sheriff's Deputies Andrew Buen and Kyle Gould in the deadly shooting in June.

CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. — Two former Clear Creek County Sheriff's deputies who were indicted last week in the deadly shooting of Christian Glass had a phone conversation that was muted on body camera video just before one of the deputies said the decision had been made to force Glass out his vehicle, according to the 5th Judicial District indictment.

A grand jury indicted former Deputies Andrew Buen and Kyle Gould in the June 11 death of Glass, a Boulder resident who called 911 when he got his car stuck on a mountain road in Silver Plume.

Buen faces charges of second-degree murder and two misdemeanor charges of official misconduct and reckless endangerment. Gould, who was not on the scene of the shooting, faces charges of criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment.

The Sheriff's Office fired both deputies. Buen and Gould were booked into the Gilpin County jail Wednesday but have since bonded out.

During the 70-minute police encounter, Glass appeared to be suffering from a mental health crisis. Officers attempted to get a terrified Glass out of his car and were unsuccessful. A Clear Creek County deputy broke Glass's window, shot him with bean bags, used a Taser on him and shot him six times. Glass died in the front seat of his locked car, holding a knife that responding officers said they were afraid he would stab them with.

Responders said they were concerned about two knives, a hammer, a rubber mallet and rocks that Glass had in the car, according to body camera video. 

According to the indictment that was unsealed this month after Buen and Gould posted bond, Georgetown Police Chief Randall Williams and another officer tried to develop a rapport with Glass and coax him out of his car so officers could assess Glass' needs and give him aid or assistance.

Buen's interactions with Glass were sometimes aggressive. At some point, Buen spoke with Gould, who was the shift supervisor, by phone. Buen muted the audio on his body-worn camera during the phone call, which wasn't recorded, the indictment says.

Credit: Gilpin County Sheriff's Office
Andrew Benjamin Buen
Credit: Gilpin County Sheriff's Office
Kyle Alan Gould

After the phone call, Buen told Williams that the decision was made to extract Glass from the vehicle, though "no one on the scene had made a determination that there was probable cause or reasonable suspicion that a crime had been committed," according to the indictment.

After the phone call, officers escalated their efforts to get Glass out of the car. Buen broke out the front passenger side window using a baton while another deputy jumped on the hood. Buen then shot six bean bag rounds, one of which broke the rear driver-side window.

Buen and Williams both deployed Tasers that caused Glass "to scream in agony and panic." Glass swung his knife around and in the direction of Williams, who was attempting to open the driver-side rear door. Buen then fired five shots at Glass, the indictment says.

WARNING: The following body camera video contains content that may be disturbing to some viewers, including gunshots, violence and graphic language.

Glass' family, through their attorney, released the following statement last week about the indictments:

"Nothing will bring Christian back to his family. Simon and Sally Glass are relieved appropriate charges have been brought against some of those responsible for the murder of their son. However, justice for Christian will require all those involved being held accountable. Christian's death is a stain on every officer who was present and failed to prevent the escalation and unnecessary uses of force."

> Watch the full news conference in September with Glass' parents:

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