30 years ago – February 7, 1986
A psychiatric patient went on a shooting spree in the Wondervu area last Friday night, and although he managed to scare everyone involved, he did not hurt anyone. “It was hairy; it really was,” said Gilpin County Sheriff Rosetta Anderle this week. It was dark, bullets were flying, and at first, no one could tell where the shots were coming from. The sheriff’s office received a report at 5:00 p.m. from the man’s half-sister that he had called her and read her his suicide note. She said the man, James Joseph, Zevalking, was under psychiatric care with Boulder County Mental Health. Anderle and Deputy Jon Bayne responded to the scene in one car and Investigator Bruce Hartman went in another. Due to the proximity of the location with Boulder County, two officers from there also responded. Zevalking, 34, lives in Boulder County, but was at his mother’s house in Wondervu. He was not at the house, but there was evidence that he had been. A suicide note was found and also a shopping bag with a sales receipt for a revolver. When he found that, Hartman advised the other officers of the “extremely high probability of his having a gun.” The officers began to search for Zevalking, but the area was rugged and officers were not familiar with it. It was decided to call for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department helicopter, because it would be able to light up the area. Before that could be done, however, Hartman reported that “we heard a gunshot.” It was hard to determine where it came from due to the high winds and the mountains. A short time later there was another shot that sounded like it came from the house. Several more shots rang out as the officers approached. Hartman reported that he could see a person in front of the house. “At one time I could see the individual firing the gun in my immediate direction.” Then, there was a clicking sound as the gun was fired without ammunition. A spotlight from the Boulder patrol car was turned on the man and he was told, several times, to lie down. When he did, he was handcuffed. An ambulance was on standby and EMTs called for the Flight for Life chopper. Zevalking had told Boulder County Mental Health that he had taken a large number of pills and had been drinking. Anderle said this week, “I’m just glad nobody was hurt.” None of the five officers that were there had ever been fired on before and none want to repeat the experience. They did not shoot back, but Hartman said that at one point it crossed his mind that the County did not have liability insurance and he wondered how that would affect things if the officers did have to fire. Anderle had hoped to be able to get Zevalking into the state hospital in Pueblo for evaluation this week, but was thwarted by the Boulder County Mental Health people. They told her his only problem was with alcohol. Anderle said Zevalking will be brought to Gilpin County Court next Tuesday for formal filing of charges of first degree assault and felony menacing. Then, he may be kept at the Gilpin jail, Anderle said.
Ruth Blake: The comfort and sweetness of peace – let it be joyfully known that Ruth Blake, mother of Dolores Spellman, Elizabeth Branecki and Lina Armbright, mother in law of Bill Spellman and George Armbright, glorified her Father while here on earth, finished her labors for a kingdom of love, and entered eternal life February 5, 1986. We mourn because we are human. We rejoice because we are Christian, and thank God the Father for the gift of life. Additional family: four granddaughters, two grandsons, eight great-grandsons and two great-granddaughters. Private services were celebrated.
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