True Crime
Brooks Bottenhorn, a 22-year-old CSU student, was charged after investigators said he fired into the microbiology building and a campus police sergeant shot him.
9NEWS, Denver7 and The Rocky Mountain Collegian reported that on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, the 8th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team identified the man a Colorado State University Police sergeant shot on Monday evening, Oct. 12, as Bottenhorn, and said the Larimer County District Attorney's Office accepted three felony and three misdemeanor charges against him. He was seriously injured and is expected to survive.
By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer ·
There are two inquiries here. One is the criminal case against Bottenhorn, which so far is six charges accepted by the district attorney. The other is the review of the sergeant's decision to fire, which the multi-agency critical incident team says is still under way. Friday's release gave the investigators' account of the shooting. It did not give a motive. A charge is not a conviction.
The 8th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team said in a release Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, that a Colorado State University Police sergeant was sent Monday evening, Oct. 12, to a report of a person acting erratically near Newton Plaza in Fort Collins, 9NEWS and Denver7 reported. The sergeant found Brooks Bottenhorn, 22, on the west side of the campus microbiology building. "Bottenhorn fired a round into that building and then advanced towards the sergeant while still armed with the handgun," the release said, according to The Rocky Mountain Collegian. "The sergeant fired multiple rounds, striking the suspect."
The sergeant immediately gave first aid, and Bottenhorn was taken to a local hospital, the release said. He was seriously injured but is expected to survive, 9NEWS reported. The Collegian, CSU's student newspaper, reported that the release confirmed Bottenhorn is a CSU junior, and that he was still receiving hospital treatment.
9NEWS reported the Larimer County District Attorney's Office accepted these charges: one Class 6 felony count of criminal mischief, one Class 5 felony count of menacing, one Class 5 felony count of illegal discharge of a firearm, one Class 1 misdemeanor count of unlawfully carrying a weapon, one Class 1 misdemeanor count of prohibited use of a weapon and one Class 2 misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment. Fort Collins Police Services is the lead investigating agency for the shooting, 9NEWS reported. The response team said the investigation is ongoing and that it could not release more information, the Collegian reported. The sergeant has not been named.
The shooting came during a week of police activity at CSU. Authorities have not tied it to the two 19-year-old Durward Hall freshmen arrested this week on explosives-related allegations, which 9NEWS and CBS Colorado reported separately. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Bottenhorn has not entered a plea, and the investigators' account in Friday's release is not a finding of fact by a court.
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