Employee fatally shoots Eldora manager; suspect later killed
Two people are dead after a lift operator at Eldora Mountain Resort
opened fire this morning on fellow employees and a Boulder County
sheriff's deputy, law enforcement officials and witnesses said.
The incident began at 7:30 a.m. when the suspect walked into a
building where employees gather and fired a shot into the ceiling,
sheriff's Cmdr. Phil West said. The suspect yelled something about
religion to the employees and fatally shot Eldora General Manager Brian
Mahon, Sheriff Joe Pelle said.
The suspect was chased down by a sheriff's deputy and killed in a
fire fight a few miles away near Mile Marker 25 of the Peak-to-Peak
Highway, south of Nederland, Pelle said.
Mahon, 49, had been an Eldora manager since 1991 and leaves behind a wife and two children, Pelle said.
Authorities have not released the name of the shooter.
Lisa Keeter, the deputy's girlfriend, told the Camera that a bullet
struck Deputy John Seifert's patrol car, but did not strike him.
However, she said, a shard of glass hit Seifert in the eye.
The deputy, who killed the suspect, was treated and released from
Boulder Community Hospital, West said. After a brief chase, the suspect
stopped his car and opened fire on the deputy's patrol car. The deputy
exited his car and returned fire, striking the suspect at least once,
West said. The suspect died at the scene.
Seifert, a 46-year-old firearms instructor with the Sheriff's
Office, was responding to the shooting at the resort's "pump house,"
Keeter said.
The trouble apparently started shortly before 7 a.m. in Nederland.
Cynthia Davis, 35, awakened to a pounding on her front door about
6:50 a.m. When she opened the door, Davis was met by a tall, slender
man in his early 20s with a pistol strapped to his right thigh. He was
dressed entirely in black.
The man wanted to know where Davis' neighbors -- who recently moved
away -- were. Davis said the man appeared "very agitated and angry"
when she told him she didn't know. Her former neighbors worked at the
ski area before moving out of town, recently.
"I thought he was a cop," she said.
A short time later, the gunman entered a room in the Eldora pump
house where about 20 employees were preparing for the day. He asked
people their religious beliefs, then opened fire.
Matthew Koehorst, a 21-year-old Eldora employee, said the manager who died was "just unlucky - a complete fluke."
"It could've been me next," he said. "I was next in line. ... That
was the most terrifying experience of my life; I'm not gonna go through
that again."
Eldora Mountain Resort officials closed the mountain to skiers
Tuesday, but will re-open Wednesday. A message on Eldora's Web site
said: "Having spent the day in shock, the employees of Eldora have
decided the best thing to do to memorialize Brian is to open the ski
area tomorrow with the slopes groomed 'Brian' perfect."
A memorial fund has been set up in Mahon’s name at the Mutual of Omaha Bank in Nederland, Eldora officials said.
Peter Rousseau, a skier from North Boulder who arrived at the Eldora
Mountain Resort around 7:15 this morning, said he saw two strange
events on his way to the mountain. As he drove from Nederland to
Eldora, he saw a gray sedan driving at excessive speeds down the
mountain.
Then, about 10 minutes later, as Rousseau unloaded his ski gear in
the resort parking lot, he said ski patrol vehicles blocked the exits
to the lot. Then, Rousseau said, a tan sedan with tinted windows evaded
authorities and plowed through a snow bank to speed back down Eldora
Road away from the resort.
"The guy was flying," Rousseau said. "I didn't know what was going on at the time."
Rousseau said he saw ski patrol medics respond to the pumphouse with
IV bags. Resort officials then closed the lodge and ordered employees
and early-arriving skiers and snowboarders to gather in the resort's
bar.
"There were people crying in the bar," Rousseau said. "One guy collapsed in tears."
The county Bomb Squad was called out to the Peak-to-Peak Highway
scene as a precautionary measure, Pelle said. The squad investigated a
backpack in the suspect's back seat, but found no bombs.
Two people are dead after a lift operator at Eldora Mountain Resort
opened fire this morning on fellow employees and a Boulder County
sheriff's deputy, law enforcement officials and witnesses said.
The incident began at 7:30 a.m. when the suspect walked into a
building where employees gather and fired a shot into the ceiling,
sheriff's Cmdr. Phil West said. The suspect yelled something about
religion to the employees and fatally shot Eldora General Manager Brian
Mahon, Sheriff Joe Pelle said.
The suspect was chased down by a sheriff's deputy and killed in a
fire fight a few miles away near Mile Marker 25 of the Peak-to-Peak
Highway, south of Nederland, Pelle said.
Mahon, 49, had been an Eldora manager since 1991 and leaves behind a wife and two children, Pelle said.
Authorities have not released the name of the shooter.
Lisa Keeter, the deputy's girlfriend, told the Camera that a bullet
struck Deputy John Seifert's patrol car, but did not strike him.
However, she said, a shard of glass hit Seifert in the eye.
The deputy, who killed the suspect, was treated and released from
Boulder Community Hospital, West said. After a brief chase, the suspect
stopped his car and opened fire on the deputy's patrol car. The deputy
exited his car and returned fire, striking the suspect at least once,
West said. The suspect died at the scene.
Seifert, a 46-year-old firearms instructor with the Sheriff's
Office, was responding to the shooting at the resort's "pump house,"
Keeter said.
The trouble apparently started shortly before 7 a.m. in Nederland.
Cynthia Davis, 35, awakened to a pounding on her front door about
6:50 a.m. When she opened the door, Davis was met by a tall, slender
man in his early 20s with a pistol strapped to his right thigh. He was
dressed entirely in black.
The man wanted to know where Davis' neighbors -- who recently moved
away -- were. Davis said the man appeared "very agitated and angry"
when she told him she didn't know. Her former neighbors worked at the
ski area before moving out of town, recently.
"I thought he was a cop," she said.
A short time later, the gunman entered a room in the Eldora pump
house where about 20 employees were preparing for the day. He asked
people their religious beliefs, then opened fire.
Matthew Koehorst, a 21-year-old Eldora employee, said the manager who died was "just unlucky - a complete fluke."
"It could've been me next," he said. "I was next in line. ... That
was the most terrifying experience of my life; I'm not gonna go through
that again."
Eldora Mountain Resort officials closed the mountain to skiers
Tuesday, but will re-open Wednesday. A message on Eldora's Web site
said: "Having spent the day in shock, the employees of Eldora have
decided the best thing to do to memorialize Brian is to open the ski
area tomorrow with the slopes groomed 'Brian' perfect."
A memorial fund has been set up in Mahon’s name at the Mutual of Omaha Bank in Nederland, Eldora officials said.
Peter Rousseau, a skier from North Boulder who arrived at the Eldora
Mountain Resort around 7:15 this morning, said he saw two strange
events on his way to the mountain. As he drove from Nederland to
Eldora, he saw a gray sedan driving at excessive speeds down the
mountain.
Then, about 10 minutes later, as Rousseau unloaded his ski gear in
the resort parking lot, he said ski patrol vehicles blocked the exits
to the lot. Then, Rousseau said, a tan sedan with tinted windows evaded
authorities and plowed through a snow bank to speed back down Eldora
Road away from the resort.
"The guy was flying," Rousseau said. "I didn't know what was going on at the time."
Rousseau said he saw ski patrol medics respond to the pumphouse with
IV bags. Resort officials then closed the lodge and ordered employees
and early-arriving skiers and snowboarders to gather in the resort's
bar.
"There were people crying in the bar," Rousseau said. "One guy collapsed in tears."
The county Bomb Squad was called out to the Peak-to-Peak Highway
scene as a precautionary measure, Pelle said. The squad investigated a
backpack in the suspect's back seat, but found no bombs.
