The Associated Press
MEEKER, Colo. (AP) - A sheriff’s deputy says “it was either him or us” when he shot and killed a shotgun-wielding man after a high-speed chase and crash.
Anthony Mazzola, a Rio Blanco County sheriff’s sergeant, fired 15 rounds at Everett Link Friday night when Link raised his shotgun at deputies who had pursued him on a domestic violence complaint.
Nine of the shots hit Link, and he crumpled onto a cattle guard his wrecked pickup, authorities said.
“I know in my heart that I did what I had to do. There was no choice,” Mazzola told the Craig Daily Press on Tuesday.
Meeker police and Rio Blanco County sheriff’s officers had surrounded Link’s home Friday night after receiving a report that he had fired a shot in the direction of his girlfriend.
Officers spotted Link in his 1987 half-ton Chevrolet pickup at about 11:30 p.m. and followed him. Undersheriff Mike Joos said he gave the order for the pursuit vehicles to ram Link’s pickup, which veered off the road into a ravine.
Link got out and was standing beside the pickup when he raised the loaded shotgun and Mazzola fired, Rio Blanco Sheriff Si Woodruff said.
“It’s the first time I’ve taken a shot on duty,” said Mazzola, 42, a Meeker native who has worked for the sheriff’s department since 1991.
“I honestly thought in my career I’d never have to use a weapon. Nobody ever wishes to have to go through this. My heart goes out to the family,” he said.
Woodruff said officers found four loaded guns and 675 rounds of ammunition in the pickup.
Mazzola is on administrative leave while the shooting is investigated. The district attorney will determine whether he faces charges, but Woodruff said he had no doubt the investigation would find the deputies and officers acted properly.
“Everybody acted very professional,” Woodruff said. “It’s not the outcome we wanted, but at the end of the day all of our officers were able to go home to their families, and that’s the bottom line.”
Link’s ex-girlfriend, Bridget Rondell, said he was upset and threatening suicide when she saw him Friday night. She said he first pointed a gun at his head and then at her.
“He asked me to kill him,” Rondell told the Daily Press in an interview with her attorney present. “I told him I need to figure out a solution, and then he left.”
It was unclear whether the domestic violence call to police came before or after that confrontation. Rondell and her daughter, 17-year-old Kassandra Rieke, who was with her that night, said they didn’t know whether Link had assaulted his girlfriend.
Rondell said Link lived in a trailer on her ranch and worked as her ranch hand for 6 1/2 years. She described him as her longtime best friend and hunting and fishing companion.
“I can’t think of anybody who didn’t like Everett,” Rondell said. “We don’t want him to be looked at as some sort of villain or psychopath.”