FORT COLLINS – A woman accused of lying when she filed a petition seeking to take away the guns of a university police officer involved in her son’s 2017 shooting death, one of the first attempted uses of Colorado’s “red flag” law, was released from jail Wednesday.
Susan Holmes, 64, was arrested by police Tuesday in Fort Collins, where she lives, more than a week after authorities issued an arrest warrant for her, Larimer County Sheriff’s Office spokesman David Moore said.
She was wanted on suspicion of first-degree perjury and attempt to influence a public servant for saying she and Colorado State University police officer Phillip Morris had a child in common – a possible reference to her son – as grounds that qualified her to seek a court order to take away his guns under what is formally called the extreme risk protection order law.
The law, which took effect Jan. 1, only allows family or household members or law enforcement to seek the temporary removal of someone’s guns because they believe they are a threat to themselves or others.
Holmes’ 19-year-old son Jeremy died after being shot near the university campus in Fort Collins by Morris and a city police officer, Erin Mast, after he allegedly refused to drop a knife on July 1, 2017, the Coloradoan reported. According to District Attorney Cliff Riedel’s review of the shooting, a relative of Jeremy Holmes had called to report that he wanted to kill his brother and sister-in-law and planned to charge at police, hoping they would shoot him, if confronted, the newspaper said. He concluded the shooting was justified.
Susan Holmes was released from jail after promising to appear at a court hearing that has not been scheduled yet. She did not return a telephone message seeking comment after her release. It was not clear if she has a lawyer who could speak on her behalf.
A judge denied Holmes’ petition during a hearing last month.
During the hearing, lawyers for Morris, who was cleared of wrongdoing in the death of Holmes’ son, presented an affidavit from him stating that he and Holmes do not fit the definition of “family or household member” as defined by the law.
Holmes declined to present evidence after Chief Judge Stephen Howard, with whom she previously clashed in her pursuit of records about her son’s shooting, refused her request to have another judge hear the case.
Larimer County deputies had previously tried to find Holmes and take her into custody under a Jan. 23 arrest warrant but could not find her. The county later designated her as a “most wanted” person.
