The legal case involving a man suspected of shooting people at Washington Park last year encountered another delay on Monday.

Ryan Egelston, 29, appeared in court Monday morning alongside his defense attorney, Robert Halpern. Halpern told Denver District Court Judge Michael W.V. Angel that Egelston needs a second psychiatric evaluation before going forward with the case.

“I know (Egelston) strongly disagrees with us, but we are going to ask for a second evaluation,” Halpern told the judge.

Another status conference, following the second evaluation, is planned for April 27 — well over a year since Egelston allegedly shot at two people at the park during a busy day.

Around 2 p.m. on Feb. 2, 2025, Egelston was sitting on a bench when a man tried to sit next to him. Egelston then allegedly spit on the man, pushed him and punched him in the lower back, according to Denver Police Department arrest records.

The man attempted to get on his bicycle and Egelston allegedly fired a handgun at him once, striking his back tire.

In an interview after his arrest, Egelston told detectives that he told the man to leave and claimed he was a “pedophile” who wanted “to touch him,” according to the arrest affidavit. 

The suspect told police he considered the gunfire to be a warning shot.

Egelston then began to walk southbound in the area of east Kentucky Avenue and south Downing Street and allegedly fired at a second person, Ben Varga, from behind, hitting him in the jaw and neck, Denver police said.

The man suffered a broken jaw, several missing teeth and arterial bleeding, according to court records.

The suspect was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder after deliberation, two counts of attempted murder with extreme indifference, one count of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of vehicular eluding and six sentence enhancers for the seemingly unprovoked attacks on two people.

Egelston told investigators after the incident that he did not intend to shoot anyone, and mentioned that the people he shot toward were somehow involved in “psy-ops,” according to records. He also stated that in May of 2024 he was placed on a mental health hold by Lakewood for suicidal ideations and talk of “psy-ops.”

A mental evaluation was done on Egelston last year to see if he was competent to stand trial, but no specifics were discussed in court.