Suspect took her life after shooting at an off-duty Pueblo police officer
A woman accused of shooting at an off-duty Pueblo police officer and then running away died from a single gunshot wound to her head, consistent with suicide, according to the Pueblo County Coroner.
Sheriff Kirk Taylor said Christina Furber, 26, took her own life after she fired a gun at an officer, identified by Pueblo police as Sgt. Shelly Taylor.
Furber’s body was found Tuesday morning inside the trunk of a car parked in the garage of a home in Pueblo West, off of South Avenida del Oro and Shenandoah Drive. Her body was found less than half a mile from where the shooting happened.
Capt. David Lucero with the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office said shortly before 10 p.m. Monday, Sgt. Taylor spotted Furber driving erratically and suspected that she was driving under the influence of alcohol.
Sgt. Taylor followed Furber to a home off of South Avenida del Oro and Wild Wind Place, where Furber’s family resides. Lucero said shortly after Taylor approached Furber, Furber pulled a gun from her purse and fired a shot at Taylor; Taylor fired back. Neither woman was injured.
KRDO NewsChannel 13 checked Furber’s criminal history and found that she plead guilty in 2013 to driving under the influence.
Lucero said Sgt. Taylor was in uniform, as she had just finished work and was on her way home, but was not in a marked vehicle.
Deputy Chief Troy Davenport said Taylor remains on active duty and has not been placed on leave.
Taylor is a 14-year veteran of the Pueblo Police Department who was recently promoted to sergeant. According to the Pueblo Police Department’s Facebook page, Taylor has worked in patrol, property crimes, crimes against persons and in the community services division as a crime prevention officer.
Pueblo West residents received a reverse emergency notification call Monday night cautioning them to stay indoors and lock their doors.
Michele Daugherty lives in the neighborhood where the shooting occurred.
“It was pretty disconcerting to have the sheriff’s department come knocking at your door at two in the morning, but I felt really safe, there were a lot of sheriffs around grabbing their lights going from home to home,” she said.
Kathleen Whitehead used to live beside Furber at her home in Fountain. She said she could not believe that Furber had been involved in a shooting. “I almost kind of considered her my second daughter because that’s how close we got. And her parents were just wonderful,” she said.
Whitehead said Furber had recently moved to Pueblo West.
Pueblo County Deputies said some District 70 schools were placed on a two-hour delay on Tuesday due to the search. The affected schools were Pueblo West High, Cedar Ridge Elementary and Skyview Middle.
The Pueblo County Coroner’s Office says it will conduct an autopsy on Furber on Wednesday.
