Man killed by Colorado Springs police, shot in neighborhood, CSPD drone

The gunman fatally shot by a Colorado Springs police officer in May fired multiple shots from his home into the surrounding neighborhood, downing a police drone, police said Thursday.

Michael Ray Hurst Jr., 40, was shot twice by Colorado Springs Police Officer Nicholas Cassalia after Hurst refused to put down his gun and pushed to use it. The police said this during a briefing on Thursday.

Colorado Springs officers responded Saturday, May 18, around 10:36 p.m. to a 911 call from Hurst’s mother, who claimed her son was suicidal and had a gun, police spokesman Joe Frabbiele said in the briefing.

At 10:42 p.m., a shot was heard from the house while the mother was still on the phone with 911, Frabbiele said. She told dispatchers that Hurst likely shot the ceiling and escaped the house safely by crawling out her bedroom window.

In an audio recording of the 911 call, the mother can be heard telling dispatchers that her son is high on methamphetamine.

Colorado Springs officers attempted to conduct a welfare check at the scene and made several announcements asking Hurst to leave the home, Frabbiele said in Thursday’s briefing. In response, Hurst fired two shots from the house into the surrounding neighborhood, downing a Colorado Springs Police Department drone hovering in the air.

Nearly 20 minutes after the shots were fired, Hurst left the house but refused to put the gun down, Frabbiele said.

Hurst repeatedly made threats to shoot the officers. In Colorado Springs Police body camera footage, Hurst can be heard telling officers, “I’ll shoot you too” and “You’re all going to die,” among other insults and threats.