Steven Stagner

Case overview

Steven Michael Stagner was charged after a shooting rampage through a trailer park in Rifle, Colorado, killing four people and leaving three others wounded. All victims were Hispanic. The Mexican consulate in Denver released a statement that the three people who died were Mexican nationals. Prosecutor Mac Myers said police were investigating whether the shootings were racially motivated and were considering treating them in court as hate crimes.

Timeline

• July 3, 2001 — Stagner, a local drunk in Rifle, Colorado, went on a shooting rampage through a trailer park killing four people and leaving three others wounded; the shooting began when Mike Stagner, 42, shot and killed Juan Hernandez-Carillo as he talked on a pay phone outside a grocery.
• July 3, 2001 — After killing Juan Hernandez-Carillo, Stagner walked across the parking lot toward the trailer park and shot 19-year-old Anjelica Toscano; she was left in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head.
• July 3, 2001 — Inside the trailer park, Stagner fatally shot two men sitting outside a small mobile home.
• July 3, 2001 — Stagner walked all the way through the trailer park and shot and wounded three more men.
• July 3, 2001 — Stagner walked back through the park, reloaded, and was arrested in the supermarket parking lot.
• July 3, 2001 — Hours before the shooting, Stagner spoke about going on a murder suicide spree at The Sports Corner bar; bartender Ted Diaz Jr. said Stagner had talked about killing and suicide many times before.
• July 3, 2001 — Earlier in the day, Stagner had been ranting about "hellfire and damnation" at a liquor store near the scene; owner Linda Trujillo said he bought a mini-bottle of whiskey and a Gatorade but she ran him off when he started yelling at passers-by.
• July 6, 2001 — Angelica Toscano died at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction, three days after the rampage.
• October 2002 — Stagner was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
• December 9, 2002 — The verdict left families and surviving victims angry at the American justice system, and Stagner’s mother vowed to fight for legislative change in the mental health system.

The offence

On July 3, 2001, a local drunk, manic-depressive, and schizophrenic man went on a shooting rampage through a trailer park in Rifle, Colorado. Police said the rampage began when Mike Stagner, 42, shot and killed Juan Hernandez-Carillo as he talked on a pay phone outside a grocery. Stagner then walked across the parking lot toward the trailer park, shooting 19-year-old Anjelica Toscano, who was left in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head. Three days later, she died at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction.

Once inside the trailer park, Stagner fatally shot two men sitting outside a small mobile home. He then walked all the way through the trailer park before shooting and wounding three more men. He walked back through the park, reloaded, and was arrested in the supermarket parking lot. Prosecutors and investigators described the rampage as affecting Hispanic victims.

The victims who died were identified as Juan Manuel Hernandez-Carillo, 44, Melquiades Medrano-Velasquez, 23, and his brother, Juan Carlos Medrano-Velasquez, 22, along with Angelica Toscano, 19. The injured victims were identified as Rudolfo Beltran, 30, Efred Marinmotes-Ortega, 18, and Medel Ortega-Venzor, 24.

Investigation

The Mexican consulate in Denver released a statement saying the three people who died were Mexican nationals and that it had demanded an "expeditious clarification" of the crime.

Arrest

Stagner was arrested in the supermarket parking lot after the shooting rampage. Earlier that same day and in the hours before the shootings, Stagner made statements about violent actions and suicide.

Bartender Ted Diaz Jr. said: "We have lived through hell the past 20 years. It's been a long nightmare" (spoken by Myrtle Stagner in court), and he also said Stagner spoke about going on a murder suicide spree at The Sports Corner bar, and that he did not pay attention to the threats because Stagner had nonchalantly talked about killing and suicide many times before.

Liquor store owner Linda Trujillo said Stagner was ranting about "hellfire and damnation" at a liquor store near the scene, and that she ran him off when he started yelling at passers-by. Trujillo said Stagner bought a mini-bottle of whiskey and a Gatorade.

Trial

Stagner was charged with four counts of murder. District Attorney Mac Myers said he did not file ethnic intimidation charges used to prosecute hate crimes because murder charges carried a stiffer penalty and better fit the case.

Stagner’s insanity trial left many family members and surviving victims angry. The testimony of Dr. Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist, did not sway those who lost loved ones or who were still recovering from gunshot wounds.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz described Stagner’s mental illness as spanning more than 20 years and said Stagner was an avenging angel on a mission for God, with a mission to destroy people he deemed evil.

Prosecutor Mac Myers said five psychiatrists who interviewed Stagner or reviewed his records determined he suffered from schizo-affective disorder, described as a diagnosis for those who suffer from both schizophrenia and bipolar illness. Myers said the psychiatrists found Stagner was suffering an acute psychotic episode when he dressed in black clothing, tucked a .38-caliber Charter Arms revolver in the back of his belt, then started shooting strangers.

Dr. Park Dietz said Stagner’s illness first manifested itself when he returned from a stint in the Army in 1981 and began referring to himself as Michael the Archangel. Dietz said Stagner was hospitalized for the first time in 1983 and spent from several days to several months in mental wards 19 more times before he committed mass murder.

In 1987, Stagner told physicians at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Grand Junction: "I have so much anger inside me, I'm afraid I'll hurt somebody."

In 1995, Stagner was investigated by the Secret Service after making threats against President Bill Clinton, and he also said that year that he had a list of other people he was going to kill.

In the days and hours before the shootings, Stagner exhibited bizarre behavior. He told officers in the parking lot of the Grand Junction Police Department that he was going on a turkey shoot, jumped in and out of traffic at a busy Grand Junction intersection, howled with insane laughter as he passed a stranger on a Rifle street, and yelled at a clerk at a storage facility: "I hate people. I hate people. I hate people."

Stagner’s public defender declined to comment following Stagner’s first court appearance.

Sentencing

Stagner was sentenced to serve one day to life at the Colorado Mental Health Institute on July 5, 2001. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity in October 2002.

Appeals

No appeal information was included in the provided material.

Outcome

Stagner was found not guilty by reason of insanity in October 2002. The verdict was described as leaving families and surviving victims angry.

Aftermath

Stagner’s mother, Myrtle Stagner, vowed to fight for legislative change in the mental health system that left her son on the streets despite 20 years of mental illness and threats to do violence. She said: "I'm going to try every way I possibly can to get the law changed. We have lived through hell the past 20 years. It's been a long nightmare."

Angel and Modesto Toscano said they were angered by the verdict that Stagner was innocent by reason of insanity. Modesto Toscano said in Spanish: "If he had killed a dog," before continuing, "he would have been subject to more justice."

Rafael Rico, a representative of the Mexican Consulate in Denver, said: "The Mexican population is going to have a hard time understanding the decision of the court - a very hard time."

In June 2010, it was stated that eight years and six months had passed since Stagner was sentenced to serve one day to life at the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo for shooting seven Latino residents in Rifle on July 3, 2001, and that four of the shooting victims died. It was stated that the shooting occurred around midnight in the old City Market parking lot and across the street at a mobile home park, which had since been destroyed.

It was stated that Stagner was found not guilty by reason of insanity in October 2001 after two psychiatric examinations found him insane at the time of the shootings. One examination was performed by Dr. Richard Pounds of CMHIP and the other was done by Dr. Park Dietz.

In June 2010, Stagner was described as remaining at CMHIP and suffering from multiple mental illnesses including schizophrenia, bipolar disease, and schizoaffective disorder. Eunice Wolther, Public Information Officer for CMHIP, said information regarding Stagner and any progress made while at the facility was not public record and was protected by HIPAA. Wolther said rehabilitation was the goal for any person committed to CMHIP.

Wolther said Stagner was not allowed to roam free and was still monitored by the courts. She said any movement or change in placement within the facility, or any change in privilege level, had to be approved by the court. Garfield County court records stated that CMHIP requested that Stagner be allowed to attend a supervised camping trip in August 2006, and that request was denied by a 9th Judicial District Court judge. Wolther said that was the only request made on Stagner’s behalf in the eight and a half years at the facility, according to court records.

Other details

It was stated that Stagner’s family tried for about 20 years to have him committed to a long-term-care mental health institution, and that they were told that until he did something like kill someone, he could not be committed. A relative, Karen Kimberlin, said: "We were told that until he did something like kill someone, he couldn't be committed."

Stagner’s criminal record included arrests on charges of burglary, assault, drug possession, and driving under the influence. It was stated that his family had been seeking commitment for years in spite of his mental illness and threats.

It was stated that the Denver Post, citing an unidentified source, reported that Stagner had recently been treated for schizophrenia and may have stopped taking his medication. Stagner was identified as a 1977 Rifle High School graduate.

The record described Rifle as a bedroom community 60 miles from Aspen.