CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, Colo. — A man who was 17 when he shot and wounded a Cherry Hills Village Police Officer was sentenced Monday to decades in the Colorado Department of Corrections after he pleaded guilty to four counts in August related to the 2018 shooting.
Angelo Alston. who is now 20, was charged as an adult in the case and was originally charged with 32 counts. He pleaded guilty to the following charges on Aug. 2 of this year:
- One count of attempted murder of a police officer (Class 2 felony)
- Three counts of aggravated robbery (Class 3 felonies)
On Monday Judge Eric White sentenced him to 44 years on the attempted murder charge and 32 for each of the other three charges. Those sentences will be served concurrently.
Alston was accused of shooting Officer Cory Sack during a home invasion on Aug. 20, 2018. Sack and his wife, Cherry Hills Village Police Chief Michelle Tovrea and numerous fellow officers attended Monday's sentencing.
“The reason he wanted me dead was the badge I was wearing,” Sack told the court. “Only the lowest of the low will try to kill a police officer trying to help others in their most vulnerable time. … He left me there to die.”
>The video above is the original report about the shooting.
Alston and three accomplices entered the Cherry Hills Village home on Sedgwick Drive near Hampden Avenue and Colorado Boulevard through an unlocked back door. Six people were home at the time. The four ordered members of the family around at gunpoint, according to investigators.
Some were confined to a bathroom, and others hid. The robbers forced the family to open a safe; they stole cash and valuables.
Officer Sack responded to a 911 hang-up call at the home and interrupted the robbery. While some robbers fled, Alston shot at Sack as he entered the home.
Sack was shot twice; once in his right ankle and once in his left leg shattering his femur. The bullets narrowly missed his femoral artery. Sack returned fire, striking Alston in the hand. As Alston fled, Sack dragged himself outside and called for help.
He was released from the hospital about three weeks after the shooting. He was the first Cherry Hills Village police officer to be wounded in the line of duty.
Watch his homecoming below:
Judge Eric White called the facts of the case “extremely aggravated.”
“The shooting of a police officer shows great disrespect for the rules of society," White said. "I can’t mitigate (Alston’s) moment of decision with what I know. The defendant is left with the choices he made.”
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