COMMERCE CITY — SWAT team members arrested a 47-year-old man wanted for attempted murder of a police officer after he allegedly barricaded himself in a Commerce City home and repeatedly fired shots at SWAT teams.
Gary “Terrorist” Richardson was arrested at 1 a.m. Saturday after five hours of negotiations, said Chris Dickey, Commerce City police spokesman.
Although Richardson fired two volleys of bullets at officers who entered a home on the 11300 block of Iola Street to arrest him, they did not return fire, Dickey said. No officers were struck by bullets.
“He’s going to be charged with three more counts of attempted murder of officers,” he said. “I don’t think he’s going to get out after this. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.”
Richardson is being held at the Adams County Detention Facility.
Richardson, who was shot multiple times on February 2012 in Federal Heights after he tried to run over an officer with a pickup truck, failed to appear at court hearings and a warrant for his arrest was issued, Dickey said.
Officers had repeatedly gone to the home of Richardson’s relatives in Commerce City the past several days but he hadn’t been there until they returned at 8 p.m. Friday.
A team of Commerce City police officers and Adams County Sheriff’s deputies knocked on the door and Richardson’s relative answered and let officers into the home, Dickey said. The relative said Richardson was working in the basement.
When officers started to climb down the steps, Richardson allegedly fired several shots, Dickey said. The officers retreated without returning fire.
A computer-generated warning call was made to residents in the area, and Iola Street was closed for several hours during the incident, Dickey said.
SWAT team members from the police department and sheriff’s office made a second attempt to descend the stairs to arrest Richardson, but when they tried to go down the steps they discovered Richardson had barricaded himself and he fired more shots. Again officers retreated without firing, Dickey said.
“I think he knew he was going back to jail and didn’t want to go nicely,” he said. “The officers exercised great restraint.”
Officers using a bullhorn and communicated with the suspect over the course of five hours before arresting Richardson without further incident.
“They brought a peaceful resolution to a very volatile situation,” Dickey said. “We kept the bad guy alive.”
Richardson has a 12-page Colorado Bureau of Investigation crime record dating back to 1984, when he was arrested for failure to appear at a court hearing.
Over the years he has been arrested on charges ranging from misdemeanor drunken driving and marijuana possession to harassment, felony theft, methamphetamine possession, trespassing and burglary. He served prison stints for the drug and burglary charges.
Shortly after midnight on Feb. 29, 2012, police received a call that a man had followed Olivia Molinar from near West 86th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard to her home on the 2000 block of West 91st Place after she had passed his pickup in traffic. The man parked in front of her home. The stalking appeared to be a road rage incident.
Police were called and two officers approached the truck from each side. An officer climbed out of his patrol car and was in front of the truck when the suspect stepped on the accelerator, hitting the officer and ramming the home, according to records.
The second officer opened the passenger door of the truck, and the driver hit the gas again, knocking the officer down and dragging him between the bottom of the door, an adjacent parked vehicle and the pavement, according to police accounts. That officer freed himself and shot the suspect several times as he tried to drive away.
In the process, several chain-link fences on surrounding properties were run over, and a GMC pickup, parked across the street, was rammed and pushed onto a lawn.
Richardson was charged on June 25, 2012 with attempted murder of a police officer, two counts of first degree assault against a police officer, criminal mischief, possession of more than 2 grams of methamphetamine and five counts of being an habitual criminal.
Bond was set at $25,000 in July 2012, meaning that he could be released after paying a bail bondsman one tenth that amount, or $2,500. When Richardson failed to appear at a pre-trial conference hearing on Wednesday, Adams County District Judge Thomas Ensor issued an arrest warrant and raised Richardson’s bail to $50,000, according to court records.
Richardson’s trial on the attempted murder charge was to begin on Monday.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, denverpost.com/coldcases or twitter.com/kmitchelldp
