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Head of Colorado’s Prisons Is Fatally Shot at Home Colorado Reels After Killing of Top Official Over Prisons
(about 5 hours later)
DENVER – As Colorado’s governor signed a hard-won package of gun control measures on Wednesday, officials across the state were reeling from the shooting death of Colorado’s prisons chief. DENVER — As Colorado’s governor signed a hard-won package of gun control measures on Wednesday, officials across the state were reeling from the seemingly inexplicable shooting death of the state’s prisons chief, who was gunned down at the front door of his home.
In the pine-covered hills of the central town of Monument, investigators were searching for traces of the person who walked up to the home of Tom Clements, the executive director of the Department of Corrections; rang the doorbell; and gunned him down as he answered the door about 8:30 Tuesday night. The killing of Tom Clements, a man described by friends and colleagues as a dedicated and thoughtful public servant, left state officials shaken and grasping for answers on Wednesday. State troopers increased security around the State Capitol, and some state workers said Mr. Clements’s death had put them on edge.
Officials with the El Paso County sheriff’s office said they were looking for a “boxy” two-door car that had been spotted Tuesday night in the neighborhood, its engine running but with nobody inside. There were few other insights about who had shot Mr. Clements, or why. The state police said they had known of no specific threats against Mr. Clements before 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, when someone approached his house in the pine-fringed hills of the town of Monument, near Colorado Springs, and shot him as he answered the door. Into Wednesday night, investigators were still searching for any trace of his killer, but said they had no suspects or motive.
Investigators said Wednesday morning that they had no suspect, and that they did not believe robbery was a motive. They said Mr. Clements’s post, overseeing more than 20,000 inmates in Colorado’s prisons and parole system, might have made him a target. Officials with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said they were looking for a “boxy” two-door car that had been spotted Tuesday night in the neighborhood, its engine running but with nobody inside.
News of the shooting rippled through the State Capitol, where lawmakers and crime victims had gathered to watch Gov. John W. Hickenlooper sign the gun legislation. Staff members asked one another, “Are you O.K.?” Tearful elected officials hugged and shared memories of Mr. Clements, 58, recalling him as a dedicated public servant who had been wooed from retirement to work in Colorado after a career with Missouri’s Department of Corrections. They said Mr. Clements’s post, overseeing more than 20,000 inmates in Colorado’s prisons and parole system, might have made him a target.
Mr. Hickenlooper’s voice cracked as he spoke about Mr. Clements’s death and faced the task of publicly grieving after another high-profile shooting. He called it “an act of intimidation” that had cut down a thoughtful and deliberative man who had tried to reform Colorado’s prisons by reducing the number of inmates in solitary confinement. Among his most prominent recent decisions, he denied a request this month from a prominent Saudi-born prisoner convicted of sexually abusing his housekeeper to serve the duration of his sentence in Saudi Arabia.
“He did his job quietly and intently,” Mr. Hickenlooper said, joined by his cabinet and elected officials. “We are all grieving.” Mr. Clements’s death came just hours before Colorado’s governor, John W. Hickenlooper, signed a bitterly divisive package of gun-control measures into law, capping weeks of tumultuous and emotional debate about gun ownership and violence in a state scarred by two mass shootings.
Several people praised Mr. Clements’s dedication to corrections officers and inmates alike. He held town hall meetings with prison staff. He tried to address the grievances of working long hours in a sometimes dangerous job. After he was seriously injured in a bicycle accident, Mr. Clements climbed into a wheelchair last September to attend the funeral of a corrections officer who had been fatally stabbed in the neck by an inmate in a prison kitchen. The news about Mr. Clements rippled through the Capitol, where lawmakers and crime victims had gathered to watch Mr. Hickenlooper sign the gun bills. Staff members asked one another, “Are you O.K.?” Tearful elected officials hugged and shared memories of Mr. Clements, 58, recalling his dedication in serving Colorado after a career with Missouri’s Department of Corrections.
About a month before his death, he appears to have put his Kona mountain bike up for sale on Craigslist, offering a “lightly ridden” dual suspension mountain bike for $1,200 or an even trade. The ad was signed “Tom,” and gave a cellphone number registered to his wife. Mr. Hickenlooper’s voice cracked as he spoke about Mr. Clements’s death. He called the shooting “an act of intimidation” that had cut down a thoughtful and deliberative man who had tried to reform Colorado’s prisons by reducing the number of inmates in solitary confinement.
“He did his job quietly and intently,” Mr. Hickenlooper said, joined by his cabinet and elected officials. “We are all grieving.” During his two years as head of Colorado’s prison system, Mr. Clements won praise from nearly everyone he met, from the governor to corrections officers, defense lawyers to former gang members.
The Rev. Leon Kelly, an antigang advocate who works to keep parolees from returning to prison, said Mr. Clements had embraced programs designed to prevent recidivism. Mr. Clements charmed Mr. Kelly’s 84-year-old mother so much that she put a photograph of him and her son on her dresser.
“He knew the job that needed to be done,” Mr. Kelly said. “He just jumped in with both feet hitting the ground.”
Mr. Clements held town-hall-style meetings with prison staffs. He tried to address the grievances of working long hours in a sometimes dangerous job. After he was seriously hurt in a bicycle accident, he climbed into a wheelchair last September to attend the funeral of a corrections officer who had been stabbed by an inmate.
Appointed by Mr. Hickenlooper in January 2011, Mr. Clements walked into a department facing budget cuts and a dwindling number of prisoners. He oversaw the closing of two prisons, a difficult process that can reverberate across communities that depend on the associated jobs and state money.Appointed by Mr. Hickenlooper in January 2011, Mr. Clements walked into a department facing budget cuts and a dwindling number of prisoners. He oversaw the closing of two prisons, a difficult process that can reverberate across communities that depend on the associated jobs and state money.
Mr. Hickenlooper said Mr. Clements had been supportive of the gun measures “but not particularly active” during their emotional and contentious path toward passage. Mr. Hickenlooper said Mr. Clements had been supportive of the gun measures but was not “particularly active” during their emotional and contentious path toward passage.
The new laws require background checks for private gun sales in addition to the checks already mandated for purchases at shops and gun shows. They also ban ammunition magazines with more than 15 rounds, a feature that the governor said could turn “killers into killing machines.”The new laws require background checks for private gun sales in addition to the checks already mandated for purchases at shops and gun shows. They also ban ammunition magazines with more than 15 rounds, a feature that the governor said could turn “killers into killing machines.”
“Someone bent on destruction, if they’re slowed even for just a number of seconds, that allows someone to escape,” he said Wednesday. “If they’re slowed even for just a number of seconds, that allows someone to escape,” Mr. Hickenlooper said.
As Mr. Hickenlooper signed the bills, he was joined in his office by a handful of people who lost loved ones in shootings at Columbine High School in 1999, at an Aurora movie theater in July and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December. As he signed the bills, he was joined in his office by a handful of people who lost loved ones in shootings at Columbine High School in 1999, at an Aurora movie theater in July and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December.
“I started crying,” said Tom Mauser, who became a gun control advocate after his son Daniel was killed at Columbine.“I started crying,” said Tom Mauser, who became a gun control advocate after his son Daniel was killed at Columbine.
Mr. Mauser wore a suit to the Capitol on Wednesday in a nod to the formality of the occasion. But on his feet were Daniel’s sneakers.Mr. Mauser wore a suit to the Capitol on Wednesday in a nod to the formality of the occasion. But on his feet were Daniel’s sneakers.

Dan Frosch contributed reporting from Denver, and Timothy Williams, Alain Delaqueriere and Christine Hauser from New York.

Dan Frosch contributed reporting.