LASALLE, Colo. – The man shot by a LaSalle police officer early Wednesday morning died about an hour after the shooting occurred, the 19th Judicial Critical Incident Response Team said Thursday.
The team identified the man as Seth Keo Mallard, 20. It said the Weld County Coroner’s Office will release his cause and manner of death after a forensic investigation is complete.
The shooting happened around 2:42 a.m. Wednesday near Highway 85 and Weld County Road 394 after the officer was called to the area about a suspicious vehicle. Mallard was pronounced dead at 3:48 a.m., the incident response team said.
The officer who shot Mallard was not injured in the shooting and has been placed on standard paid leave as the response team investigates. The officer’s name has not been released by authorities.
MAP: Tracking Colorado police shootings in 2019
The incident response team said the investigation was active and further details would be released once they are available.
Court records show that Mallard has a lengthy criminal history in Colorado, including his pleading guilty to aggravated motor vehicle theft last May and other prior arrests for vehicle theft, trespassing and criminal mischief. He was sentenced to two years in prison for the May incident but was transferred to community corrections in early December, which he then walked away from, a Department of Corrections spokesperson said. Mallard was considered a fugitive from justice after leaving community corrections before completing his sentence.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Greeley Police Commander Roy Smith at 970-350-9678 or Weld County Sheriff’s Sergeant Ben Endreson at 970-400-2870.
Wednesday’s shooting was the 14th police shooting in Colorado so far in 2019 and the second involving a LaSalle police officer in recent weeks. On Jan. 16 , a female LaSalle officer shot and killed an off-duty Adams County sheriff’s deputy in Evans following a high-speed chase that started in Platteville.
LaSalle Police Chief Carl Harvey said that the officer from the first shooting was still on paid leave, so after the most recent shooting, the department has only five street officers and himself in administration.