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CSU student charged after police shooting near campus microbiology building

17 October 2026 at 03:13

The team investigating a police shooting at Colorado State University earlier this week issued an update Friday night.

The Eighth Judicial District Critica Incident Response Team said a CSU police sergeant was sent to a report of a person behaving erratically near Newton Plaza.

Investigators said Brooks Bottenhorn, 22, allegedly fired a round into the west side of the microbiology building before walking toward the sergeant while still carrying a handgun. Police said the sergeant then fired multiple shots, striking Bottenhorn.

Police said the sergeant immediately rendered first aid. Bottenhorn was taken to a local hospital for treatment. He was seriously injured but is expected to survive.

According to police, Bottenhorn is a student at CSU.

The Larimer County District Attorney's Office has charged Bottenhorn with criminal mischief, menacing, illegal discharge of a firearm, unlawfully carrying a weapon, prohibited use of a weapon, and reckless endangerment.

Colorado report finds Aspen Acres Fire was sparked by tree falling onto power line

13 October 2026 at 04:08

The Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control (CDFPC) has published the initial report on one of Colorado's most destructive wildfires since the Marshall Fire in 2021.

On Monday, the Scripps News Group acquired the CDFPC report from attorneys representing victims of the Aspen Acres Fire. According to the report, it began roughly 200 feet west of Colorado Highway 165 at mile marker 17, southwest of the intersection of Colorado Highway 165 and Custer Drive.

The report concludes that the fire was caused by an aspen tree falling onto a power line. The tree was blown over by high winds and fell on overhead power lines, investigators said. The impact of the falling tree forced the power lines down to about three feet above the ground.

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Evidence that the report uses to make its case includes eyewitness accounts, fire effects, fire patterns, and the actual aspen tree resting on a power line with burn marks.

The aspen tree trunk was in contact with both the hot and neutral conductor, according to the report. The tree also had visible heat damage where the tree was in contact with the lines, including charring and burn marks. The lines themselves also had arcing, melting, and charring, according to the report.

The lines heated the tree bark and nearby vegetation to a point where they could ignite. Melted aluminum was also found under the area where the tree rested against the line, which should be considered as a contributor to the fire's ignition, the report said.

The report also provides evidence in the form of fire behavior and indicators, observed in the burn patterns. When burning in a particular direction, fire leaves signs of its direction of movement and its intensity. These patterns in the burned foliage, the report says, indicate that the fire advanced from the general origin area and spread west and south while also burning more intensely away from the origin area.

Other possible ignition sources were explored by investigators, including lightning, discarded smoking material, or an intentionally set fire.

Lightning was discarded as an explanation by investigators because they found that no lightning was recorded, no physical evidence of a strike was found, and no one reported lightning on that day. Not only that, a five-mile-wide report by STRIKEnet of the area found there were zero cloud-to-ground strikes detected by lightning sensors within five miles of the origin area.

Discarded smoking materials were discarded as an explanation because no smoking materials were found in the area by investigators. Additionally, investigators determined that the conditions in the area would make a fire caused by smoking materials "inconsistent and not viable given the data collected during this investigation."

Intentionally set fires do not necessarily mean arson they simply include fires that were set intentionally and not necessarily maliciously. These include open flames like candles, matches, lighters, pilot lights, and oil lamps. However, investigators found that the fire did not originate anywhere near structures with open flames.

The ignition, which the report says took place in the general area of a series of utility poles, was also witnessed by a local resident at 5:45 a.m. on June 29. It immediately began to spread westward up the hill and towards the south, according to the testimony provided in the report.

The Aspen Acres Fire began on June 29 and remains active with 82% containment. It has burned 102,007 acres as of Oct. 2, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

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The fire destroyed over 200 homes and evacuated thousands of people across the fire, which burned in Pueblo, Fremont, Huerfano, and Custer Counties.

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Pueblo woman found guilty of first-degree murder, child abuse in death of 3-year-old son

6 October 2026 at 22:14

A Pueblo woman has been found guilty of first-degree murder and child abuse in a case which left one child dead and another injured.

Samantha Kimberly, 40, was convicted Tuesday of one count of murder in the first degree, two counts of child abuse, and accessory to a crime, according to the Pueblo County District Attorney. Kimberly was convicted based on evidence presented by multiple expert witnesses, including an expert in child abuse.

Prosecutors said that her children who were 14 and 3 years old at the time of her arrest endured months of physical abuse. The abuse they said she inflicted on her 3-year-old resulted in his death from a severe brain injury, prosecutors said. The injuries the 14-year-old sustained required treatment at a Colorado Springs hospital.

We appreciate the jurys verdict in this tragic and difficult case. We extend our gratitude to the Pueblo County Sheriffs Office for their investigation and support during the prosecution to achieve justice for the victims. Any homicide case is difficult, but those challenges are amplified when the victims are children. We remain committed to protecting victims of crime and pursuing justice with the utmost care and determination, said Pueblo County District Attorney Kala Beauvais.

Kimberly was originally arrested on June 8, 2024, after Pueblo County Sheriffs Office deputies were sent to investigate a report that a 3-year-old was unconscious and not breathing normally. When they arrived, medical personnel were treating a child with visible injuries on his body.

The 14-year-old also sustained visible injuries and was treated at a local hospital before being placed with the Department of Human Services.

Kimberly will be sentenced on Oct. 26 at 2 p.m. in Division 503.

Air Force Academy hockey coach Frank Serratore announces retirement after 2026-27 season

30 September 2026 at 01:47

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) Longtime Air Force Academy hockey coach Frank Serratore announced Tuesday that the upcoming season will be his last.

The upcoming 2026-27 season will be his 30th at the Air Force Academy. He enters that season with a record of 490-472-106 with the Falcons, according to academy staff. His overall 33-season record as a college head coach is 539-564-115. His teams have won 539 times 490 at the academy and 49 at Denver the second most among active NCAA coaches and the 14th most in NCAA hockey history. Staff also said his wins at the academy are the most in school history.

Last season, Serratores team enjoyed an 18-15-4 record the first winning season since 2018-19.

Coach Frank Serratore has left an indelible mark on Air Force Hockey and the national hockey community as well, Air Force interim athletic director Nancy Hixson said.

Serratore is also the second-longest tenured coach at the academy. He earned his 500th career victory on Jan. 20, 2024 only the 16th Division I coach in NCAA history to do so.

Most professional coaches are nomadic contractors endlessly wandering the hockey highway from job to job, I was on this track until I came to Colorado Springs, Serratore said. I am deeply indebted to the Air Force Academy, this job has provided me with a home, an identity, and a legacy. After 29 years at the helm, my name is synonymous with Air Force hockey, it defines me, its who and what I am, and Im enormously proud of this.

Hixson said that Jon Doyle has been selected as the head coach in waiting. Doyle, an academy graduate, has coached a total of 22 seasons. Doyle also assists with the academys recruiting efforts, with many of those recruits starting careers in the Air Force.

Doyle is also a member of the academys Hockey Wall of Fame. He was selected as the teams MVP during his junior and senior years, and was part of the first class in academy history to post four consecutive winning seasons.

I have been here on Franks staff for 20 of his 30 years and Ive watched him take Air Force hockey from the bottom of the standings to seven NCAA tournaments and three Elite Eights, Doyle said. That kind of transformation doesnt happen by accident, and most people never imagined it could happen at a service academy.

The academys 2026-27 hockey season begins Friday, Oct. 2 against Omaha at Cadet Ice Arena.

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