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Greeley man gets 30 years behind bars for assaulting officers, attempting mass explosion

By February 10, 2022 | updated 4 years ago

Stephen Garcia

Stephen Garcia



Courtesy of the Weld County District Attorney’s Office


A judge sentenced a 57-year-old Greeley man to 30 years in prison on Wednesday for attempting a mass explosion and assaulting three officers in 2019.

In June, Stephen Garcia was convicted in Weld County of three counts of first-degree assault on a peace officer, one count of attempted use of an incendiary device and reckless endangerment. 

On June 8, 2019, Weld County sheriff’s deputies, Colorado State Patrol troopers and Greeley police officers were sent to an active oil drilling site at 10611 Highway 257 for a report of a suspicious person, according to the Weld County District Attorney’s Office.

A worker called 911 after seeing Garcia with a flare in his hands near tanks that contained highly flammable and explosive gasses. 

A deputy saw Garcia try to ignite the gas tanks. Garcia told the deputy that “she needed to leave and said he was going to blow the tank up,” according to a news release. 

Officials determined the blast radius could have been up to a quarter mile and would’ve put residents, other structures, responding officers and crew members at the oil site in danger. 

Garcia refused to comply with law enforcement’s commands, which led officers to discharge bean bag rounds from a shotgun. When Garcia continued to resist, an officer fired two shots, striking Garcia in the jaw and shoulder, according to the release. 

Garcia was taken into custody after being treated at the Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland.

“The defendant was high on methamphetamine during this incident,” Deputy District Attorney Chris Jewkes said in a news release. “While I sympathize with people who struggle with mental health issues, our job is to protect the community from people who put others at serious risk. … It is truly a miracle that everyone walked away from what could have been a deadly incident.”

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