Military veteran fatally shot by officers after pointing rifle at them, threatening families

No charges will be filed against Colorado Springs officers who fatally shot a 45-year-old military veteran who shouted and pointed a gun at them in February, investigators announced Friday. 

Three officers fired their weapons in the incident. The decision to clear the officers of criminal wrongdoing was made by the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office. 

Evan Kendrick Wollert died in the confrontation. No officers were hurt.   

The incident began on Feb. 5 around 7 p.m. when a resident of The Grove Apartments at 2985 Bijou Street called 9-1-1 to report her neighbor was on the balcony loading and unloading a "long gun," a term often used to describe a rifle. The woman reported her neighbor had not yet threatened anyone. 

CSPD officers arrived but Wollert refused to answer their questions. Officers did not see Wollert carrying a firearm and decided no crime had been committed. But, as they began walking back to their cruisers, Wollert started pounding on the door of the neighbor who had called police. 

According to the DA's description of events, officers warned him to stop bothering his neighbor. Wollert responded with a profane rant: "Come on! You ain't going to kill me in my f***ing place! Come on! Anybody, any day! I got ten toes and a lot of rounds! Come on mother f***ers! I'm Marine Corps. I don't play this sh*t! You come in my house! You come in my place! Imma show you all! I killed men, women, children on this land and in other countries. I'll kill them all!"

Officers left the scene in hopes of de-escalating the situation but stayed in the area. 

Six hours later, at 1:23 in the morning, three calls were received at CSPD's 9-1-1 dispatch. Two residents reported hearing gunshots, one of those callers also heard a man yelling that he had a gun and had killed someone. The third call was from a woman - Wollert's neighbor from the prior evening's disturbance - who said Wollert was now pounding on her door again.

A CSPD officer who had remained in the area also reported hearing a gunshot.

Officers returned to the apartment complex and took cover behind vehicles in the parking lot. As heard in video recorded by the officers' bodycams and released by the department, Wollert then yelled at officers: "You talk out there in the street. I'm right here. Come on. I promise you. You aint' gonna be standing in a few seconds. Come open this door."

From the parking lot, officers called out to Wollert by name and told him that they could not guarantee his safety if he did not obey their verbal commands to come out of the apartment with his hands visible. 

"I'm Memphis. I will kill all you motherf***ers!" Wollert replied. "I will kill your kids. I will kill your wife...I'm Memphis."

At 1:52 a.m., Wollert descended stairs from the apartment building's second story. He was carrying a rifle and ignored several commands from police to drop it. Officers fired when he raised the weapon in their direction. Two officers fired once with handguns, as described by the DA's press release, and a third fired three times with a rifle. 

Officers got the gun from his hands and began treating his wounds, but Wollert died at the scene.  

A nationwide search of online public records shows just one Evan Kendrick Wollert, a 45-year-old resident of Memphis, Tenn. Family members did not return calls, and CBS News Colorado was unable to determine why Wollert was in Colorado.   

Wollert is seen in an online video, a military holiday greeting recorded in 2008. He is identified as a corporal with the 1st Marine Logistics Group speaking from Al-Taqaddum Air Base in Iraq. 

"I'd like to send a shout out to my mother, my sons, and my sister back home," Wollert states in the video. "I love you all very much and I hope to see you soon."

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If you are a military veteran experiencing a crisis, call the helpline at 1-800-273-8255 and press 1. You can also reach out by dialing 988 then pressing 1 on your phone, or by texting 838255. Crisis counselors are available at all hours. There is no cost and the calls can be made confidential. 

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs states as many as 9 million veterans are not currently enrolled for Veterans Administration benefits. Those include free emergency health care for veterans in acute crisis. 

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Other resources are available through the Colorado Veterans Project.