Clear Creek deputy pleads not guilty in Christian Glass shooting death case
The former Clear Creek County Sheriff’s deputy accused of shooting and killing Christian Glass while he was experiencing a mental health crisis pleaded not guilty Thursday.
Andrew Buen and his former supervisor, Kyle Gould, appeared in Clear Creek County District Court.
Gould has a plea and sentencing hearing scheduled for Nov. 16 at 1:30 p.m. His attorney, Bob Weiner of Hall and Evans LLC, said no plea bargain has been reached in his client’s case, but they are “working towards a resolution.”
Buen faces several charges, including second-degree murder, reckless endangerment and official misconduct in the shooting death of Glass on June 11, 2022. Gould, who was making decisions to direct his officers that night from his home, faces charges of criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment.
The Glass case attracted national attention because of possible police misconduct and partly because the intense interaction and violent end was caught on body-worn cameras. Glass’ parents, Simon and Sally Glass, received a $19 million settlement in their son’s death, the largest in Colorado history.
In addition to the settlement, the town of Idaho Springs will dedicate a public park named after Glass.
In an apology letter, Clear County Sheriff Rick Elbers acknowledged that “his officers failed to meet expectations in their response to Christian Glass when he called for assistance.”
In the document, the Sheriff outlined a plan to assemble a county-wide crisis response team to be implemented by the beginning of 2025, improve training and it announced a Citizens Policy Advisory board.
In accordance with the agreement, the state of Colorado will also implement changes in training, including a virtual reality system named after Glass.
A motions hearing for Buen has been scheduled for two days, Dec. 18 and 19. The judge gave his attorneys until Nov. 27 to file motions.






