Man killed by Fort Collins police in cemetery shooting suspected in cold-case homicide

A 42-year-old man fatally shot by Fort Collins police during an armed confrontation at Grandview Cemetery in July was a suspect in a 2019 cold-case homicide, police officials said Friday.

Clayton Pierce was shot 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 handgun, according to a decision letter published by the 8th Judicial District Attorney’s Office on Friday.

Pierce was involved in a single-vehicle rollover crash and left the scene armed with two “ghost guns,” or guns without serial numbers, which are illegal to own, sell or create.

Pierce was also carrying a bottle of bourbon with the words “His last day” written on it, according to the district attorney’s letter.

He pointed the rifle at responding police officers and shot one officer in the arm, according to the agency. He then walked into Grandview Cemetery, where he was fatally shot by police.

Pierce had twice the legal driving limit of alcohol as well as methamphetamine, THC and gabapentin in his system at the time of his death, according to the letter.

District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin found Fort Collins Police Services Sgt. Brian Mallory and Officers Peter Nolan, August Barber and Cole Giandomenico were legally justified in using deadly force “to defend themselves, other officers and the public at large” from the threat posed by Pierce.

At the time of Pierce’s death, Fort Collins police were “in the process of formalizing charges” against him in connection to a 2019 cold-case homicide, the police agency said Friday.

Detectives determined there was “sufficient evidence” to arrest Pierce on suspicion of first-degree murder in the death of Joseph “Sonny” Brigman.

Brigman, 62, died from a gunshot wound after he was found unresponsive in his apartment in the 4100 block of Verbena Way the night of April 29, 2019, according to the Fort Collins Coloradoan.

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