Hospital seeks man’s release
A prosecutor and at least one victim of a 2010 shooting at Deer Creek Middle School are fighting the proposed temporary unsupervised state hospital release of the man who shot two eighth graders.
A jury found Bruco Strong Eagle Eastwood not guilty by reason of insanity to four counts of attempted murder on Oct. 5, 2011. The jury also found Eastwood guilty of possession of a weapon on school grounds. He was held for 18 months on the weapon charge and is being held for one day to life on the insanity finding.
On Feb. 23, 2010, Eastwood, then 32, shot two eighth graders, Reagan Weber and Matthew Thieu, at the school Eastwood had attended as a child.
On Aug. 31, Dr. Kimberly Nordstrom, superintendent of the Colorado MentalHealth Institute of Pueblo, filed a notice to Jefferson County District Court that Eastwood would be temporarily released without supervision for rehabilitative purposes if there were no objections.
District Court Judge Laura Ann Tighe has granted a hearing on the issue, which is scheduled on Dec. 15. The hearing will help authorities determine whether Eastwood will be granted additional privileges outside the state hospital. In 2015, the hospital allowed him temporary supervised privileges after a judge required him to wear an ankle monitor while he is outside the locked facility.
District Attorney Peter Weir filed an objection to the proposed release on Sept. 25.
“The district attorney believes that the defendant poses a substantial danger to the community and should not be allowed the privilege of temporary physical removal for treatment and rehabilitation,” Weir’s objection says.
The objection said that at Eastwood’s trial numerous witnesses testified that he is profoundly mentally ill and had a psychotic delusional disorder that made him extremely dangerous to others.
Weir’s office contacted the victims, their family members and school district personnel and they have voiced concerns.
“We strongly believe that if it wasn’t for the teachers at Deer Creek Middle School, many individuals would have been hurt and/ or potentially at a loss of life,” Thieu’s mother, Noelle Thieu, wrote in a letter to the judge.
She wrote that her son was gravely injured and still suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder.
“We are happy that Eastwood has stabilized his mental illness with medication, however, we believe that allowing such privileges will only open the door for more crime on behalf of Eastwood’s mental illnesses,” Noelle Thieu wrote.