The man accused of breaching the Colorado Supreme Court building, holding a security guard at gunpoint and setting a fire on the seventh floor where burned papers were found has been identified by police, though his statements to detectives afterward were redacted from the public record.
Brandon Olsen, 44, has been charged with robbery, burglary and arson in connection to the incident that unfolded at approximately 1:15 a.m. Tuesday, when officers were called to a two-vehicle crash near East 13th Avenue and Lincoln Street. According to a probable cause statement, the other driver reported the man, later identified as Olsen, got out of his car, grabbed a pistol from the back seat and ran toward the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center.
Authorities say Olsen shot out a large first floor window and went inside. The unarmed security guard, assigned to the Colorado State Patrol Capitol Security Unit, told a detective afterward he was stationed alone at the information desk when he heard a loud banging noise, walked to the lobby to investigate and ran into Olsen upon turning the corner.
Olsen “began kicking a door to a store/maintenance room but could not force the door open,” so the security guard “offered to use a key to open the door and tried to open the door with his master key,” court documents say. The guard told a detective afterward “he was nervous and was shaking because the male had a pistol pointed at him.” Olsen allegedly then grabbed the guard’s keys and opened the door himself. Once the door opened, the guard then ran from the area and called dispatch.
GUNMAN ARRESTED AFTER BREACHING COLORADO SUPREME COURT, HOLDING GUARD AT GUNPOINT: COPS
Brandon Olsen, 44, is charged with robbery, burglary and arson after allegedly breaching the Colorado Supreme Court building. (Denver Police Department)
Nearly two hours would pass before Olsen “voluntarily surrendered” and emerged from the building surrounded by police at approximately 3 a.m., authorities said.
Olsen allegedly walked out shortly after dialing 911 and having a conversation with the operator, but what he said on the phone was redacted from the probable cause statement released by the Denver Police Department later Tuesday afternoon.
“While in the building, officers noted that it appeared the suspect intentionally set a fire on the seventh floor of the building,” the probable cause statement says.
The detective who wrote the report said he went to the crime scene himself at the Colorado Supreme Court building at 1300 Broadway, observed a large glass window on the first floor had been broken, and on the seventh floor, he “smelled a strong odor of smoke.”
“There was standing water from the fire suppression sprinklers throughout the entire floor and burnt papers were in the water,” the document says. The detective also observed bullet defects in at least two glass windows on the seventh floor where Olsen is said to have shot out of. A semiautomatic pistol was also found on a table in a conference room on that floor.
Police tape blocks the damage to large windows at the Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024 in Denver. Authorities say a man inflicted “extensive damage” to the building. (AP Photo/Colleen Slevin)
Upon exiting the building, Olsen was transported in custody to Denver Health Medical Center, where he was later cleared by doctors. He was then transported to Denver Police headquarters “within a few hours of his initial arrest,” court documents say. That was where the detective interviewed Olsen at 6:45 a.m. Tuesday, but what the suspect said was redacted.
The incident took place soon after the Colorado Supreme Court drew controversy by ruling that former President Trump should be removed from the 2024 GOP primary ballot.
Colorado State Patrol said in a statement Tuesday that preliminary investigations “confirmed a high probability the incident … is NOT associated to the recent threats against the Colorado Supreme Court Justices.”
Shards of glass from a smashed window of the Colorado Supreme Court building are seen after a man broke in and barricaded himself inside overnight in Denver on Jan. 2, 2024. (REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt)
Olsen’s ex-wife, Colorado resident Tori Schumacher, claimed in an interview with The Denver Post that the suspect has “no political affiliation whatsoever” and “had a mental breakdown” after she told him during a phone conversation on New Year’s Eve that he could not see their children.
Schumacher said the two had divorced more than a decade ago, and she had not spoken to him in several years because of Olsen’s alleged drug addiction and mental health issues. During the call, Schumacher said, Olsen told her he was driving from his home state of Arizona to Colorado to see them.
“He wanted to see his children, and we didn’t allow that, and he just went a little crazy,” Schumacher said. “It’s not some weird political [thing] — that has nothing to do with anything.”
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According to the Post, court records show Olsen has been arrested several times in Colorado over the last decade. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft in 2014 and was arrested on drug-related charges in 2011 and 2013, the newspaper reported. Olsen pleaded guilty to felony vehicular eluding in connection to the 2011 incident, and several other charges against him were dismissed.
