BAILEY, Colo. — Martin Wirth spent recent years fuming over police brutality and corrupt mortgage companies, fueled by his own run-ins with the law and a long battle to save from foreclosure his two-story home in the Colorado mountains.
BAILEY, Colo. — Martin Wirth spent recent years fuming over police brutality and corrupt mortgage companies, fueled by his own run-ins with the law and a long battle to save from foreclosure his two-story home in the Colorado mountains.
That fight came to a violent end Wednesday when the 58-year-old shot three law enforcement officers trying to serve an eviction notice, killing one and wounding the others. Officers fired back, killing Wirth.
Some close to Wirth struggled to reconcile the shooting with their memories of him as a well-intentioned activist, while others recalled a quick-tempered man with a propensity for violence. He wrote disparagingly of the government and police in seething posts on his Facebook page.
“They are a brutal impediment to human progress a danger to us all,” one post said. “Because I write such things, cops want me dead.”
Aware of the danger, eight officers from the Park County Sheriff’s Office went to the home in a hillside neighborhood north of the town of Bailey to serve what authorities described as a “high-risk” eviction notice. They had been ordered to remove Wirth and his property from the home, court documents show.
Wirth appeared on the deck when they arrived, then went back inside, the sheriff’s office said. For unknown reasons, officers followed him in, and Wirth opened fire, leading to a shootout.
The gunfire killed Cpl. Nate Carrigan, a 13-year veteran of the agency. One of the wounded deputies underwent surgery for life-threatening injuries and was in critical condition. The other was treated and released after a bullet grazed his ear.
Wirth had several brushes with the law over the years. He was acquitted of second-degree murder in 1994 for the shooting death of his 24-year-old neighbor during an argument over a chess game.
Wirth testified that the man provoked him and lunged for his revolver before he shot him twice in the chest in Fort Collins, The Coloradoan reported. Jurors told the newspaper they were conflicted about the acquittal.