Death by Cop 2021-2025
Search fatalities
You can use any or all of the fields to refine the search.
Cole Vannuci
Age : 42
Gender : Male
Race : White
Date : 08/22/2025
Location : 1100 block of Branding Iron Circle
City : Colorado Springs
County : El Paso
State : Colorado
Agency : Colorado Springs Police Department
Officer(s) :Logan Scheppele; Christopher Laabs
Cause of Death : Gunshot
Event : Killed by police after firing at officers
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :
On 08/22/2025, Colorado Springs police officers assigned to the Violent Offender Fugitive Task Force and Tactical Enforcement Unit were searching for 42-year-old Cole Daniel Vannucci. Vannucci had an active arrest warrant arising from a domestic-violence case in which he had been charged with first-degree kidnapping.
.
Shortly before 3 p.m., police received a FLOCK license-plate-reader alert for a Chevrolet Trailblazer associated with Vannucci. Detectives located the vehicle and positively identified Vannucci as the driver. They followed him to a fast-food restaurant but decided against attempting the arrest there because of the presence of other people. Police continued following him until he parked outside a residence in the 1100 block of Branding Iron Circle.
.
Officers Christopher Laabs, Rachel Cruz-Rodgers, Logan Scheppele, Juan Estrada-Barrera and Christopher Major participated in the arrest operation. Police positioned unmarked vehicles in front of and behind Vannucci's Trailblazer to prevent him from driving away. Officers activated emergency lights, identified themselves as police and announced that Vannucci was under arrest.
.
Police deployed a flash-bang device as they moved in. Vannucci remained inside the Trailblazer and attempted to drive away, backing into Laabs's police vehicle. Estrada-Barrera moved another police vehicle forward to keep the Trailblazer trapped between police vehicles.
.
Officers repeatedly ordered Vannucci to get out. Police then fired a 40mm foam baton through the Trailblazer's rear window to break the glass in preparation for deploying a chemical irritant. Scheppele reported seeing what appeared to be a rifle inside the vehicle and alerted the other officers. Cruz-Rodgers subsequently fired two chemical-irritant rounds into the Trailblazer.
.
According to the subsequent investigation, Vannucci opened the driver's door and stepped out holding what appeared to officers to be a compact HK or MP5-style rifle. Police alleged that he began raising the weapon toward Scheppele. Scheppele and Laabs opened fire. Scheppele fired nine rounds from an MP7 and Laabs fired six rounds from a 9mm handgun. Vannucci was struck eight times.
.
Officers approached Vannucci, took him into custody and provided emergency medical treatment. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. The El Paso County Coroner's Office determined that Vannucci died from multiple gunshot wounds.
.
Investigators subsequently established that the weapon Vannucci was carrying was not a firearm. It was an airsoft replica resembling an MP5 rifle and lacked the orange markings commonly used to distinguish replica weapons.
.
Initial police statements also said Vannucci had fired at least one shot toward officers. The later investigation and District Attorney's detailed account instead established that the object was an airsoft rifle and described Vannucci raising it toward Scheppele immediately before Scheppele and Laabs fired.
.
The El Paso County Sheriff's Office conducted the independent investigation. The Fourth Judicial District Attorney's Office subsequently reviewed the shooting and on 02/04/2026 determined that Scheppele and Laabs would not face criminal charges.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND
Logan Scheppele and Christopher Laabs were the two Colorado Springs police officers who shot Cole Vannucci. Scheppele fired nine rounds and Laabs fired six; Vannucci was struck eight times. Rachel Cruz-Rodgers, Juan Estrada-Barrera and Christopher Major were also directly involved in the arrest operation but did not fire the fatal gunshots. Christopher Laabs had been involved in at least two previous fatal police shootings before Vannucci's death.
.
On 03/22/2018, Laabs was one of four Colorado Springs officers who shot and killed 31-year-old Corky Lee Oliver during a motel hostage operation at the TravelStar Inn & Suites. Officers Andrew Leeper, Armando Newell, Christopher Laabs and Frederick Sunderlin fired at Oliver after police forced entry into the room where he was holding a woman. The woman was also struck and wounded by police gunfire. The Fourth Judicial District Attorney subsequently declined charges against the officers.
.
On 05/18/2019, Laabs shot and killed 29-year-old Sean Michael Collins following a domestic-violence call and prolonged SWAT barricade at an apartment on Forest Hill Road. Police alleged Collins had fired toward officers during the barricade. After police deployed chemical agents, Collins emerged from the apartment and Laabs shot him. The Fourth Judicial District Attorney subsequently declined charges against Laabs.
.
Laabs was also named as a defendant in Bark v. Chacon, a federal civil-rights lawsuit filed under 42 U.S.C. §1983. Evan Bark sued Laabs and several other Colorado Springs officers alleging unreasonable detention, false imprisonment, unlawful search and seizure, and arrest without probable cause. The litigation ultimately resulted in summary judgment for the officers, which the Tenth Circuit affirmed in 2012.
.
Laabs is also the named defendant in David Meray v. Christopher Laabs, Case No. 2025CV32838. In March 2026, the Colorado Springs City Council considered and acknowledged legal representation for Laabs in that civil action.
.
The Vannucci shooting was therefore at least the third fatal police shooting involving Christopher Laabs documented in publicly available records: Corky Lee Oliver in 2018, Sean Michael Collins in 2019, and Cole Daniel Vannucci in 2025.
SOURCE LINKS :
https://www.fox21news.com/top-stories/officer-involved-shooting-near-cimarron-hills/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/cspd-officer-involved-shooting-near-221018068.html
https://x.com/FOX21News/status/1959045375395758233
https://www.koaa.com/news/crime/das-office-rules-shooting-involving-cspd-last-summer-justified
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/sean-michael-collins-officer-shooting-deadly-colorado-springs/
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca10/12-1169/12-1169-2012-12-05.html
