Still no answers for the family of the Cañon City man killed by police four months ago

CAÑON CITY, Colo. (KRDO) -- On May 1, Cañon City Police officers shot and killed 28-year-old Dalton Buckholz. Nearly four months later, the investigation is still ongoing and the officers involved have yet to be cleared of any wrongdoing.

KRDO reached out to the Cañon City Police Department, and officials would only confirm that a shooting took place in the Quality Inn parking lot off Highway 50 in Cañon City back in May. They said two officers were involved and that no officers were injured.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation has since taken over the investigation following the shooting. The CBI released a statement saying that two officers tried to make contact with Buckholz and "at some point during the incident, shots were fired by the two members of the department."

The statement also included that a passenger in Buckholz's car, a 20-year-old man, was also shot by police but is expected to survive.

Buckholz's autopsy report revealed he was shot through the neck and the back, and the bullets also injured his hands. The report also revealed that Buckholz was under the influence of a handful of different drugs at the time of his death.

Though the officers involved were initially placed on administrative leave, the Cañon City Police Department would not say whether or not if they've been released back to regular duty. Since May, CCPD has declined to answer any questions after multiple requests from KRDO.

The 11th Judicial District Attorney, Linda Stanley, confirmed to KRDO that she received the CBI's full investigation report in the second week of August. Stanley said she is not required to set a specific deadline, but will release her findings as soon as she can.

However, Buckholz's family is pushing for a different DA's office to decide because they believe there could be a conflict of interest with the 11th Judicial District Attorney making this decision.

Until her findings are released, his family is left to wait for answers. Kim Ferguson, Buckholz's mother, spoke to KRDO Tuesday in the very parking lot where her son died. She wore a shirt with her son's picture on it, and a vial of his ashes around her neck. She stood with her mother as support while she spoke to us.

“He didn't deserve to die. Nobody deserves to be shot like that. He was taken out of our lives and it was too soon," Ferguson said.

Buckholz's family wants charges filed against the officers involved, although the investigative findings still have not been released.

His fiance, Miranda Hines, acknowledged that while Buckholz was heavily tattooed, had a criminal past, and was intoxicated at the time of his death, she doesn't believe Bukcholz deserved to die the way he did.

"Look at this man past his tattoos and past his toxicology report, because beyond that, he was a father and he was the love of my life," Hines said. "He turned his whole life around. I know he had a background, I knew him back then."

Hines is referring to the time he served on a handful of different charges, like drug possession and burglary. However, within the last three years of his life, he hadn't faced any new charges. At the time of his death, there were no warrants for his arrest.

Hines said Buckholz was a good person and stepped up to be an excellent father to her 4-year-old daughter, Elliana.

"He fell in love with my daughter, and she became his world," Hines said. "He would have never put himself in a situation not to come home to her."

Hines said she doesn't want his death to be swept under the rug and hopes the findings will be released soon.