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Connor Riley McDaniel

Age : 26

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 09/01/2021

Location : 1700 block of Gollihar Court

City : Peyton

County : El Paso

State : Colorado

Agency : El Paso County Sheriff’s Office

Officer(s) :Ryan Gonzales; Andrew Peery; David Fisher

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during disturbance call

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 09/01/2021, 26-year-old Connor Riley McDaniel was shot and killed by El Paso County sheriff’s deputies Ryan Gonzales, Andrew Peery and David Fisher following an approximately three-and-a-half-hour armed mental-health crisis near the 17000 block of Gollihar Court in Peyton.
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The Sheriff’s Office initially responded to a welfare check after McDaniel’s stepmother reported that he was suicidal, possessed firearms, had sent goodbye emails to family members and had shared his location with relatives through a cellphone application. Deputies located him in a hilly area near Gollihar Court at approximately 2:30 p.m.
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McDaniel positioned himself on elevated terrain overlooking deputies and nearby homes. Deputies heard a gunshot and located him carrying a handgun. Crisis negotiators established intermittent contact with him and negotiated for several hours. McDaniel repeatedly said he intended to kill himself and told deputies that if they approached him, they would be shot.
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Deputies provided McDaniel with cigarettes and a cellphone so he could communicate with police, relatives and a civilian mental-health professional. Police said McDaniel had been drinking alcohol. He repeatedly declined requests to put down the handgun.
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During the standoff, McDaniel repeatedly fired his handgun in different directions. Investigators determined that he fired at least 23 rounds during the incident. A shelter-in-place order was issued for surrounding residents at approximately 7 p.m.
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Deputy Ryan Gonzales reported seeing McDaniel aim his handgun toward deputies and fire three or four rounds in their direction. Investigators documented a bullet impact on McDaniel’s vehicle that was in line with Gonzales’s position. Gonzales returned fire.
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After approximately three-and-a-half hours of negotiations, McDaniel moved down the opposite side of the hill toward deputies Andrew Peery and David Fisher while still carrying the handgun. Peery and Fisher reported seeing McDaniel move the weapon across his chest while looking toward them. Peery fired his rifle twice and Fisher fired his handgun once. McDaniel was struck by multiple police rounds and fell.
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Deputies subsequently fired a 40mm less-lethal impact round when McDaniel remained unresponsive, then approached him and found no pulse. He died at the scene.
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The Colorado Springs Police Department led the Deadly Force Investigation Team investigation. Body-camera recordings captured the entire police interaction with McDaniel, including the fatal shooting.
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On 03/18/2022, the Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s Office ruled that Gonzales, Peery and Fisher were legally justified in using deadly force and filed no criminal charges against them.
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McDaniel’s father later publicly discussed his son’s death while advocating for improved mental-health care for military veterans. He said Connor had written individual goodbye letters to family members before the encounter and described his son’s struggle with PTSD.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Ryan Gonzales had previously participated in another fatal police shooting. In 2019, Gonzales and El Paso County Deputy Chad Wheat shot and killed a man during an encounter in Monument. Gonzales was publicly identified as one of the two deputies who fired in that earlier fatal shooting.
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Andrew Peery was later killed in the line of duty on 08/07/2022 while responding to a reported shooting in Security-Widefield. Peery and other officers were fired upon immediately after arriving; Peery was struck and died.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://krdo.com/news/2021/09/01/one-person-dead-after-officer-involved-shooting-in-peyton/
https://www.koaa.com/news/covering-colorado/officer-involved-shooting-in-peyton-under-investigation
https://www.kktv.com/2021/09/02/shelter-in-place-alert-neighborhood-north-peyton/
https://www.koaa.com/news/covering-colorado/district-attorneys-office-determines-sept-2021-police-shooting-was-justified
https://www.4thjudicialda.com/OfficerInvolvedShootings/MediaRelease2022-2201-002.pdf
https://www.koaa.com/news/covering-colorado/deputies-involved-in-monument-shooting-identified
https://www.koaa.com/community/you-are-not-alone/colorado-dad-advocates-for-veterans-mental-health-after-son-completes-suicide