Suspect Brandon Olsen appears in court after break-in at Colorado Supreme Court building
The man arrested and accused of breaking into the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center last week appeared in court on Wednesday. Brandon Olsen is facing robbery, burglary and arson charges after an unusual crime spree at the judicial center which is home to the Colorado Supreme Court, the Colorado Court of Appeals and several other judicial and legal offices.
Parts of that building on East 14th Avenue just off Civic Center Park remained closed on Wednesday due to the damage caused last week.
The incident began with a car crash outside the building after midnight Jan. 2. Two vehicles were involved, according to Denver police, and one of the people in one of the cars ran away with a gun.
Soon afterward police say that same person, believed to be Olsen, shot out a window of the judicial center's east wall and broke in. Investigators said when he came into contact with an unarmed security guard from the Colorado State Patrol Capitol Security Unit, he obtained keys to the building.
That's when investigators believe Olsen went up to the 7th floor and fired his gun there more than once. He also allegedly started a fire in a stairwell.
Officers said less than 2 hours after the crash, about 3 a.m., Olsen turned himself in and was arrested without any sort of fight.
Denver firefighters were able to extinguish the fire.
Olsen has a criminal history in Colorado involving mostly drugs and theft cases that date back to 1997. He was being held at the Denver Jail.
The Colorado Supreme Court made headlines late last year when it ruled that former President Donald Trump is disqualified from holding the presidency under the Constitution's so-called insurrection clause and ordered the secretary of state to exclude his name from the state's Republican presidential primary ballot. That decision has been appealed. Since the ruling some of the justices have received threats.
Olsen appeared in court for an advisement on Wednesday. The judge set a date for his next appearance in court, a preliminary hearing, for Jan. 30.
