Two men accused of nearly killing Pueblo citizen and police officers before police chase through the city
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- New details are coming to light after multiple armed men led Pueblo Police on a dangerous chase last Friday evening. According to court documents obtained by 13 Investigates, 19-year-old Michael Bundy and 26-year-old Ted Heredia are accused of firing four shots at a Pueblo citizen who chased them from his garage.
According to an arrest affidavit, two males were inside the garage of a south Pueblo home. When the owner of the home found them inside stealing items, the citizen tells 13 Investigates Bundy fired multiple rounds from a 9mm pistol at him. What is left is two bullet holes on the exterior of his home.
After speeding off, court documents say Bundy and Heredia took Pueblo police on a police chase from Northern Ave to Sante Fe Ave to E 14th St. on the east side of Pueblo. They were traveling at a high rate of speed in a stolen white jeep, court records say.
During that time, the arrest affidavit says one passenger in the car fired multiple rounds at police officers following them in a heavy traffic area along Northern Ave. Both officers said they "feared for their life." However, they continued following the suspects because they were posing a significant danger to the community, court documents say.
The white jeep was abandoned in an alleyway behind a home on E 14th St. on the east side of Pueblo. After entering a home and refusing to come out, both Bundy and another male peacefully exited the home and were taken into custody. Heredia was forcibly removed by a SWAT team after multiple hours of making announcements outside the home for him to exit the residence. They are both facing attempted murder of a peace officer charges, a class-two felony in Colorado.
Inside the home, a glock 19 pistol and rifle were located. After Bundy was booked into jail, investigators conducted a search warrant for a jail phone call between him and two unnamed individuals.
During the conversation Bundy tells them, "I know I am going to be gone for a long time." Bundy admits to shooting at police officers and at the Pueblo citizen outside his home. After his mother joins the call, he says "I don't know" when asked if he shot anyone.
Both Bundy and Heredia were not arrested on POWPO (Possession of a Weapon by a Previous Offender) because of recent changes in legislation. Those changes have been outlined in multiple reports by 13 Investigates.
The bill, SB-21-271, also known as the misdemeanor reform act, became law on March 1, 2022. The Misdemeanor Reform Act "reforms the sentencing provisions related to misdemeanors and petty offenses" recently took effect in Colorado. Before, if someone who had already been convicted of a prior crime faced a new, specific charge, they would face the additional charge of Possession of Weapons by Previous Offenders (POWPO). Effective March 1, SB21-271 shortened the list of crimes that would qualify a felon for the charge of POWPO. Those crimes are only VRA crimes or around 50 crimes with a victim in Colorado. Both Bundy and Heredia were convicted felons but did not have previous VRA convictions.
Heredia was also a convicted felon on parole from the Department of Corrections on Friday evening. He was most recently in DOC on a multi-year drug distribution conviction.
In recent months, Pueblo Police Chief Chris Noeller has warned that this type of behavior may occur with repeat offenders who he claims the state legislature is allowing access to firearms.
"My officers are repeatedly arresting the same violent offender with weapons over and over and over again, at some point they are either going to shoot my officers or my officers are going to have to shoot them," Noeller said. "When that person is in jail, when that person is in prison that's not going to happen."
