Armed man shot by police officer in southeast Fort Collins apartment sentenced to prison
The man who was shot by Fort Collins police while officers were trying to arrest his father last year has been sentenced to prison.
Michael Cordova, now 19, pointed a gun and ran at a police officer inside a southeast Fort Collins apartment while police were there attempting to arrest Cordova's father on an outstanding warrant on Sept. 2. The officer shot and injured Cordova. No one else was injured.
Cordova pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, a Class 4 felony, and attempted manslaughter, a Class 5 felony, in April. All other charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement. Cordova was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the second-degree assault charge and three years is prison for the manslaughter charge by Judge Stephen Jouard during a June sentencing hearing.
Cordova, who was 18 at the time, had been using methamphetamine with his father, Isaac Cordova, earlier that day, which caused him to have a "heightened sense of paranoia" to the point where he thought he and his father were being followed by gang members or drug dealers, defense attorney Troy Krenning said during the June sentencing hearing.
Officers were at the apartment complex to arrest Isaac Cordova on a felony burglary warrant and a misdemeanor warrant. When he did not respond to officers' commands to come out of the apartment, officers went inside. Michael Cordova came out of one of the rooms with a gun and ran toward an officer, who shot him.
Krenning said Isaac Cordova was someone who should have been a positive influence on his son, "but instead is guiding him into mayhem."
Michael Cordova has never been enrolled in public school and has no record of ever seeing a doctor, Krenning said. He asked the judge to sentence Michael Cordova to community corrections to be better prepared to reenter the community when his sentence is complete.
Krenning argued that, if Michael Cordova received a prison sentence, "he will have learned nothing, he will have obtained no skills, he will have hung around people who have known nothing but crime."
"I want Michael Cordova to have a chance," Krenning said.
Assistant District Attorney Matthew Maillaro agreed that Isaac Cordova was a bad influence on his son, but the severity of Michael Cordova's actions warrant a prison sentence. Selgren also told the court he did not believe a community-based sentence was appropriate.
Jouard said it was clear that Michael Cordova's "extremely reckless" behavior was fueled by being under the influence of methamphetamine and that his father "played an extremely significant role" in his actions that day. Jouard also agreed that community corrections is a great program for helping people address issues that brought them into the criminal justice system, but this case was too aggravating for a community-based sentence.
"I do not give up on anyone, and I want Mr. Cordova to have a chance, too," Jouard said. "... Mr. Cordova will be a young man when he completes this sentence, and my hope is that he will take advantage of every opportunity to get on the right track. ... His life is not over, but he is going to have to face this punishment for this offense."
In addition to the outstanding warrants, Isaac Cordova also faced charges relating to the Sept. 2 incident. He was arrested after jumping from the balcony during the incident, the sheriff's office previously said. In the case stemming from the Sept. 2 incident, he pleaded guilty to prohibited use of a weapon, a Class 1 misdemeanor, and was sentenced to 180 days in jail in May.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Armed man shot by police in southeast Fort Collins apartment sentenced
