CSPD releases 900+ page report on February’s fatal officer-involved shooting

It’s been exactly seven months since an El Paso County Sheriff’s deputy was killed in the line of duty in east Colorado Springs.

Wednesday, the Colorado Springs Police Department has released their investigation report about how the chaos unfolded.

The 907-page report has dozens of officer and witness statements on what happened the day Deputy Micah Flick was shot and killed and an innocent bystander had his life change forever. Since the report is nearly a thousand pages long, new revelations about what happened may come to fruition in the coming days, but this is what we learned so far.

The gun used by suspect Manual Zetina, who was shot and killed by officers, was a cheap High Point C-9 Compact pistol worth less than $200. It holds eight rounds in the magazine with one in the chamber. The report says the gun had no bullets left when they recovered it. The District Attorney’s investigation says the gun was shot at least six times.

One of the many statements given was from Deputy Stephanie Criss, who was at the Murray Hill Apartments the day of the shooting.

Criss told investigators she was on the west side of the parking lot with the innocent bystander, Thomas Villanueva, just north of her. When officers and deputies went in for the arrest of Zetina, Criss says she heard yelling but when asked if officers gave Zetina any commands to get down, she said she did not. Seconds later, shots were fired. Criss saw Deputy Scott Stone and deputy Micah Flick both fall to the ground. Criss also saw that Villanueva who was standing just seconds before also go down. She went over to Villanueva who asked if he had been shot. Criss also told investigators at that time Villanueva said he could not move his legs.

The question now is with all the information, is it enough for Villanueva to file a lawsuit for what happened to him that day? We spoke to Lt. Howard Black with CSPD, who said the department cannot comment on the report because of possible litigation.

In August, the DA’s office found no criminal misconduct on the part of the officers that day, but they did not say if officers followed proper procedure.

We’ll have more information on the report in the coming days.