Loveland man pleads guilty to second-degree murder in 2015 shooting of William Connole

Sady Swanson, Fort Collins Coloradoan
·2 min read

A man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of William Connole in Loveland in 2015.

Christopher Parker, now 40, pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder, a Class 2 felony, for killing 65-year-old Connole on June 3, 2015. Connole was fatally shot while he was walking at the intersection of First Street and St. Louis Avenue in Loveland just before 11 p.m.

Parker was originally charged with first-degree murder after deliberation for Connole's death, but that charge was dismissed by the 8th Judicial District Attorney's Office as part of this plea agreement, according to online court records.

Parker was also initially charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting at a motorcyclist who was not injured near Allendale Park in Loveland the same day Connole was killed, but that charge was also dismissed as part of this agreement, according to online court records.

Parker had previously pleaded not guilty to the original charges in the case in February, and a six-week trial had been set for later this year.

Parker will next appear in court for sentencing June 26. He remains in custody without bond at the Larimer County Jail.

Parker was arrested in March 2018, after Northern Colorado Shooting Task Force investigators used his truck, a firearm purchase and alleged incriminating statements he reportedly made online and in interviews with law enforcement to tie him to the shootings, investigators said during a multiday evidentiary hearing in October.

Parker's case was delayed several years while he went through mental competency proceedings until he was deemed competent to proceed to trial in June 2021.

The Loveland shootings happened during a spate of similar incidents that shocked Northern Colorado in 2015 — including the unsolved killing of John Jacoby in Windsor and a shooting that injured a woman while she drove on Interstate 25 about a month before Connole was killed. Parker has not been connected to or charged with the other shootings. No one has been arrested in connection to the other shootings.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Loveland man arrested for 2015 shooting pleads guilty to murder