ADAMS COUNTY, Colorado — Yolanda Venzor fondly remembers July 3. She was sitting outside her home when her son Mario walked up. He was carrying a bouquet of pink flowers – her favorite color – to celebrate her birthday which he had missed because of work.
It was the last day she’d see her son alive.
In the early morning hours of July 14, Mario Ortega, 35, was shot and killed by an Adams County deputy outside the Lakeside Inn motel in unincorporated Adams County. In a short news release the day of the shooting, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office said Ortega produced a firearm.
Surveillance video from the motel, obtained by 9NEWS, shows Ortega backing into a parking spot outside the motel. A woman is seen leaving his SUV. An Adams County deputy pulls up in front of the car, immediately pulling out his gun as he exits his patrol SUV. He appears to confront Ortega briefly behind the car. The video shows Ortega backing away from the deputy, holding an object to his head. Then the deputy shoots him.
WATCH: Surveillance video shows fatal shooting of man by Adams County deputy
“It’s just heartbreaking knowing your kid died and he’s been shot and all the unanswered questions,” Yolanda Venzor said in an interview with 9NEWS. “What was he doing there… I don’t know.”
Venzor said someone from Adams County called her the day of the shooting to let her know her son was dead. She said the caller didn’t give many more details than that.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Adams County Sheriff’s Office couldn’t answer any specific questions about the case, citing an ongoing investigation, and said investigators weren’t able to share many details of the investigation with Ortega’s family due to the sensitivity of the investigation.
The sheriff’s office did clarify that the deputy involved “self-initiated” the call, but wouldn’t elaborate on why the deputy approached Ortega.
“Why was he shot,” Venzor said. “What did he do to deserve to be shot? What did he do to get shot? Why did that officer get down from his vehicle already with his gun drawn?”
Ortega’s family said he was released from prison on theft charges in December and decided to move from his home in the San Luis Valley to Northern Colorado for a fresh start.
“He was doing good for himself…he had a job,” his sister, Sara Lozano, said. “He helped my mom out. He was going to school. He was doing really good.”
Venzor said her son got a job at Burger King, was promoted to manager, then found another job working at the Purina pet food plant.
“Mario was a very, very loving person,” she said. “He was judged by many because of his appearance. He was a big momma’s boy. He loved me to death.”
The family is holding a funeral for Ortega on Friday in Alamosa. Then they plan to file a complaint with the sheriff's office to try and get the video.
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