Boulder County Sheriff Suppresses Reason for Ski Lift GM’s Death

“Boomer,” a commenter at Michelle Malkin’s place, reacted to her post on the Aspen man who “killed himself in a botched bank robbery/mass murder attempt” mentioning “a (different) story I saw earlier today about a ski instructor in Aspen being murdered by a nut job because he admitted to his Catholic faith.”

After more searching than should have been necessary, I found a reference at Mary Major’s blog that had the specifics:

“Catholic” “wrong answer” to gunman
Here is the latest of the Colorado ski resort shooting.

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/dec/31/eldora-back-open-after-shooting/

snip

During a standard morning meeting Tuesday, Derik Bonestroo, a 24-year-old lift operator, pulled out a gun, fired a shot into the ceiling and threatened his co-workers, mentioning something about religion. When general manager Brian Mahon entered the room, Bonestroo asked him what religion he believed in.

When Mahon said “Catholic,” according to witness accounts, Bonestroo then shot him twice, sending his fellow employees fleeing out doors and windows.

Mahon died at the scene and Bonestroo fled in a vehicle. He was chased by officers and eventually got into a fire fight with a Boulder County sheriff’s deputy. The deputy shot and killed Bonestroo, and the resort remained closed for the day.

That Daily Camera link no longer contains a reference to Mahon’s Catholic profession, because when you put in that link, you get taken to another. Thankfully, Google cache has the original containing the excerpted language; now, so does my web host.

The Boulder County Sheriff’s Department is not reporting Mahon’s profession of faith, despite the multiple witness accounts in a room that had 18-20 people in it. The word “Catholic” is not in any of the Sheriff Department’s three press releases (here, here, and here), nor is there any reference to eyewitness accounts saying that the alleged killer fired after Mahon answered his question about his faith. Instead, we get “The suspect confronted him immediately, shooting him twice before fleeing the scene,” and “his motive remains unclear.”

Why the suppression? Is it because this murder has “hate crime” written all over it, and the sheriff wants to avoid classifying it as such?

UPDATE, Jan. 3: Here is a rendition of what happened that is NOT first-hand –

An employee who was in the room at the time of the shooting told the Boettchers (a couple who were NOT there — Ed.) that Bonestroo had fired a gun toward the ceiling during a morning meeting and said, “Anybody that’s not my religion is going to die today,” John Boettcher said.

Bonestroo had started asking people about their religion when the general manager entered the room.

“He asked him what religion he was, and he said, ‘Catholic,’” Boettcher said. “Then he shot him in the head and in the chest.”