DENVER, (Reuters) – The head of Colorado’s prison system was shot to death as he answered the doorbell at his home in what police said may have been a targeted slaying linked to his high-profile position.
The shooting on Tuesday night punctuated an intense debate on gun control in Colorado, coming just hours before the state’s Democratic governor signed into law new firearms-control measures spurred by a rash of deadly mass shootings in the state and elsewhere.
Police said Tom Clements, 58, appointed two years ago as executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, was shot at his home in a secluded wooded area near the town of Monument, 45 miles (72 km) south of Denver.
The killing did not appear to be linked to any break-in or robbery attempt, and did not appear to be a random act of violence, said El Paso County Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant Jeff Kramer.
“We are sensitive to the high-profile position in which Mr. Clements served and the fact there could be people who would target him based on his position,” Kramer said in a statement on Wednesday.
Clements also spent 31 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections, where he became the No. 2 official.
Kramer said that according to a 911 emergency call for help received shortly before 9 p.m. local time, Clements was shot after answering the doorbell. He was found dead by sheriff’s deputies arriving on the scene.