Man sentenced to decades in prison for shooting at officers during high-speed chase

DENVER ( KDVR ) — A 33-year-old man was sentenced to 64 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections on Friday for events that occurred during a 2023 interaction with police.

According to the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, Kyle Williamson was on parole on Oct. 11, 2023, when Thornton police tried to conduct a traffic stop on a Chevrolet Silverado that was spray-painted and displaying tags for a different vehicle. Williamson and his wife were inside the vehicle, and he did not stop as directed by the officer.

The officer initiated a car chase, during which Williamson reportedly leaned out of the driver’s side window and fired multiple shots at the pursuing officers. Thornton officers called off the pursuit near Interstate 25 and Ridgegate Parkway.

That’s when Douglas County Sheriff’s Office deputies began to pursue the truck, deploying a tire deflation device. Williamson, as a way to further evade capture, drove over a sidewalk and through landscaping before crashing into a 7-Eleven. A store clerk and a customer inside the building were not injured, according to the DA’s office.

Williamson continued to ignore commands, including commands to put his hands up, instead pointing a gun once more at a deputy, said the sheriff’s office. Two deputies then fired at Williamson, striking him multiple times. Williamson’s wife, who had been with him in the car throughout the incident, was not hit.

“I’m grateful that no officers were seriously injured following the defendant’s appalling behavior,” Deputy District Attorney Keegan Doheney said in a release. “Any one of those bullets the defendant fired could have been deadly. Given the egregiousness of this case, a decades-long prison sentence is appropriate.”

Williamson’s wife, Hannah Woolard, pleaded guilty earlier this year to a charge of accessory to a crime and was sentenced on Aug. 5 to three years of community corrections.

Williamson pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree assault for firing at the officers. He was sentenced to 16 years for each count to be served consecutively for a total of 64 years in prison. He was also sentenced to serve three years of mandatory parole.

Williamson had been released on parole in 2022 for attempted sexual assault and child abuse causing serious bodily injury after he was sentenced in 2011.

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