City of Pueblo saw 27 murders in 2023. It's the third straight year with at least that amount

Sam Gaona never wanted to learn that the brain has seven minutes of activity after someone is technically dead.

When her brother was killed on June 28, 2023, it changed her life in a profound way.

"The holidays are different," she said. "And it's not even the holidays being the first, it's every little first. My car broke down recently and for the first time, I didn't have my brother to call, and that hit me so hard."

The loss has also impacted her children, who lost their uncle, in different ways from grades dropping in school to severe depression.

"The loss of a loved one to homicide is like throwing an ornament on the ground, and every shard you find is a different type of pain," she said. "I think that's the same for every homicide victim's family — you don't stop finding little things that hurt, you don't stop having random thoughts that intrude into your brain you don't want to think about."

Gaona, the founder of a support group for families of homicide victims in Pueblo, lost her brother, Marcos Colunga-Gaona, in June of last year. The DA's office has charged his alleged killer, 16-year-old Daemyn Chacon, as an adult.

Colunga-Gaona is just one of 29 people who lost their lives to homicide in 2023 across Pueblo County, with 27 of those occurring in the city of Pueblo.

Where do homicides happen? And how many Pueblo murders involve guns?

From 2018 to 2021, homicides in Pueblo skyrocketed and have remained high ever since. The city recorded eight homicides in 2018, 12 in 2019 and 14 in 2020, but the number doubled to 29 in 2021 and has since remained consistent, with 27 homicides in both 2022 and 2023.

For the Pueblo Police Department, it is often very difficult to prevent or predict where a murder may happen, Pueblo Police Chief Chris Noeller told the Chieftain.

"A lot of those cases involve heat-of-passion, heat-of-the-moment type decisions that could spark up anywhere in any community," he said.

Noeller noted that the number of guns involved in homicides has increased this year, with 26 of the city's 27 homicides involving firearms, or a little more than 96%.

The only 2023 homicide that did not involve a firearm was the city's first of the year, in which a woman was charged with child abuse resulting in her 2-year-old's death.

'The juvenile crisis' and its impact on Pueblo homicides

Capt. Cody Wager, who leads Pueblo PD's crimes against persons unit, stated he believed there has been an increase in juveniles being homicide suspects, especially in gang-related drive-by situations. "That has been very concerning to me over the past years reviewing all these homicides," he said.

While it is illegal in Colorado for someone under the age of 18 to purchase a firearm, Wager said he believes that juveniles obtain weapons through social media. "In my opinion, guns are like drugs," he said. "You can get them if you want them. And these kids are masters of social media, they can get drugs, guns, anything they want or need that way."

Noeller also blamed changes in state legislation over the past 10 years, expressing a belief that there has been a "societal change" in the past decade where "offenders are treated as victims and not held accountable."

"We used to have a law when I started here in the mid-90s where if a juvenile was found in possession of a handgun, they would go to (Pueblo Youth Services Center) for five days," Noeller said. "It was mandated in law. If you look at our Part I crime going back to 1996, you start seeing a massive drop off in Part I violent crime around 1997 until about 2008 or 2009, when it started ticking back up."

Noeller said he believes that around then, societal focus on crime began to change, "loosening accountability" for offenders.

Tenth Judicial District Attorney Jeff Chostner also noted that the number of beds available for juvenile offenders has been significantly reduced in the past decade.

"Back when I came into office in January 2013, there were about 80 beds available at Youth Offender Services, where we could place juvenile offenders. Today we have 10. When you have a juvenile involved in a serious crime, we're looking at, 'Who's the lowest risk to the community for releasing?' Because we only have 10 beds."

Chostner said that this is not just a Pueblo problem but a statewide one, and southern Colorado officials have been working intensely with state legislators to get more beds designated for this area of the state.

"If we could just get 30 beds here, we could accommodate the juvenile crisis," he said. "I'm hoping we'll see legislation this winter and spring that will help alleviate that problem."

How firearms and repeat offenders contribute to the problem

While Part 1 violent crime went down slightly in 2023, the chief stated that it had gone up every year over the past six years.

Regarding the proliferation of firearms on the street, Noeller also observed that firearms are frequently stolen and blamed legislation allowing non-Victim's Rights Act previous offenders to continue to own a firearm.

Repeat offenders are also common, Noeller and Wager said.

"I'm in year 29 and I've arrested the same person three times for homicide," said Wager. "They did some time for each offense, but clearly not all of it."

"It's fair to say that not everyone who gets probation or goes to prison reoffends," said Noeller. "But there are a lot of them that do. I am not an advocate on throwing people in jail and throwing away the key, there have to be resources to give people a second chance. But if that second chance turns into a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, at some point we have to decide as citizens of this country, what is it we want?"

Staff shortages at Pueblo PD, DA's office create challenges

Pueblo PD is also one of many law enforcement agencies across the state struggling with staffing issues. Currently, the department is down 55 officers. Six recruits are currently in the law enforcement academy at Pueblo Community College and the police department hopes to get as many as 15-20 in the May academy.

The district attorney also stated that while he believes hiring is on the upswing, his office is still down eight attorneys, which it's trying to address through an internship program that partners with prestigious universities across the country.

However, despite the staffing challenges, the police department is finding ways to combat crime using the resources they have available. A little over a year ago, Pueblo police started using COMSTAT, a "data-driven approach" to addressing crime that Noeller believes is effective.

In 2024, Pueblo police are instituting a "Real Time Crime Center" using electronic and other means to help officers investigate violent crime by helping to identify people and vehicles involved.

"It's not a panacea," Noeller said. "We won't all the sudden be Mayberry around here. But it is the vision (that) it will help us get some of these individuals off the street and help increase the amount of evidence to aid in the prosecution of some of these offenders."

Chostner also said that he advised all local agencies at chief's meetings to be aggressive in making traffic stops, where police can then check the vehicle for drugs, guns, or contraband.

"I know police are overtasked with the calls and demands that come in, but if we do these more proactive things, it helps us down the road," he said. "Statistically, if you're more aggressive in traffic enforcement it helps you cut down on your DUIs and vehicular homicides as well."

'We need intervention for youth': Community efforts to address homicides

Meanwhile, Gaona advocated providing more resources to underserved youth, who might otherwise get involved in gangs and crime.

"We need intervention for youth that are needy," she said. "The kid that killed my brother, he didn't have a family and no one cared about this kid. Intervention would have helped, whether that be through therapy, school, activities that can be done, mentor programs, something like that."

Gaona's group of families of homicide victims has discussed creating a mentorship program that would give youth opportunities to learn a skill or a trade instead of becoming involved in a cycle of criminal behavior.

Gaona, herself a former Sergeant for Colorado State Patrol in the Colorado Department of Corrections, believes there is also a "disconnect" between the community and law enforcement, with many community members distrusting the police. One of the ways Gaona suggested gaining more trust is through better transparency.

One example she gave of a perceived "lack of transparency" was listing a police blotter under the "events" page on the Pueblo PD Facebook page, instead of on the main page or an entirely separate page.

"That's where they actually list a lot of information, and not a lot of people know about it," she said. "It's definitely not reaching the community the way the main page is."

Gaona also suggested more outreach from the police department, including discussions with the community about how the community can support them in doing their job.

Gaona also suggested more security cameras around town, not just those owned by local businesses. "If there had been more cameras around the place my brother died, it would have been caught on tape," she said.

Finally, she advocated for more support for homicide victims.

"At ACOVA, you don't get a victim's advocate until someone is charged," she said. "If there was one thing I would absolutely change in a moment, it would be that. It would be making sure that there are advocates for victims' families, especially if they're at the scene, because that's traumatic in and of itself."

More Pueblo crime news: Pueblo police probing homicide, seeking 2 children after finding child's body in storage unit

All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in court. Arrests and charges are merely accusations by law enforcement until, and unless, a suspect is convicted of a crime.

Questions, comments, or story tips? Chieftain reporter Justin Reutter can be reached at jreutterma@gannett.com, Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter,@jayreutter1.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: How many homicides did Pueblo have in 2023? Here's what we know