A male suspect was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday for unlawfully entering the Colorado Supreme Court during the night and discharging a firearm inside the premises, as per a news release from the state police reported by CNN.
The initial inquiry strongly indicated that the event is not connected to recent menaces directed at the Justices of the Colorado Supreme Court, as stated by the Colorado State Patrol.
The intrusion took place at the Ralph L Carr Colorado Judicial Center, where the state supreme court is located. This happened shortly after a divisive 4-3 decision to exclude former President Donald Trump from Colorado's 2024 ballot. The court's reasoning for Trump's disqualification was based on the insurrectionist ban of the 14th Amendment, according to CNN's report.
Law enforcement authorities such as the FBI and Colorado police had been looking into serious threats of violence against the Colorado Supreme Court justices after their ruling. However, the recent break-in appears to be unrelated to these threats.
The event occurred at approximately 1:15 am local time and continued for almost two hours, concluding with the intruder yielding to the police at 3 am. Although no injuries were reported, the judicial centre suffered substantial and extensive damage.
The break-in occurred after a collision between two vehicles near the courthouse. One of the individuals involved allegedly brandished a firearm at the other driver and later fired a shot to gain access to the courthouse by breaking a window on the eastern side. Once inside, the intruder confronted an unarmed security guard, seized the guard's keys at gunpoint, and then moved to different areas of the building, discharging gunshots on the seventh floor.
The individual who contacted 911 prior to yielding to authorities is currently confronting unspecified charges. Officials do not believe the event is directly connected to previous threats against the judges. However, the names of the four judges who disqualified Trump have appeared in incendiary messages on extremist websites.
Although no explicit threats targeting the judges were discovered in the analysis, the report cautioned about the possibility of isolated individuals or small groups resorting to violence in reaction to the court's decision, as per CNN's report.
