The two people the Adam's County Sheriff's Office wanted to talk regarding a disturbance call before Deputy Heath Gumm was shot and killed Wednesday night have been interviewed by investigators and released, the sheriff's office said Friday.
Gumm was shot and killed on Wednesday after the Adams County Sheriff's Office got a call about an assault around 7 p.m. Deputies responded to the 8700 block of Dawson Street, where they learned the suspect had left.
When deputies found someone matching the suspect's description, the Adams County Sheriff's Office says he ran from deputies, leading them behind a house.
The suspect then turned and fired on them -- hitting Gumm in the chest.
Gumm was wearing a bulletproof vest when he was shot, McIntosh said. Until they get the results of an autopsy, it's hard to say if it was a vest failure or if the bullets that hit him were in an area not protected by his vest.
9Wants to Know learned that Dreion Martise Dearing was booked into the county jail at 10:23 a.m. Thursday and was being held on two counts of first-degree murder of a peace officer, one count of first-degree murder after deliberation and second-degree burglary. He will appear in court for a hearing advisement Friday afternoon.
Dearing, 22, has a criminal record stretching back to 2013.
9NEWS has not released the mugshot the suspect in relation to this case at this time.
Dearing had his first advisement in Adams County District Court on Friday. He will be formally charged in court Wednesday at 10 a.m., the district attorney's office said.
Adams County Sheriff Michael McIntosh briefed the media and public on the investigation Thursday afternoon. He also spoke of Gumm's family. In lieu of flowers, McIntosh said, the family has requested people send donations to Children's Hospital Colorado. Gumm, 31, is survived by a wife named Natasha. The couple did not have children.
He started with the Adams County Sheriff's Office in 2012.
McIntosh also spent some of the press conference speaking directly to the media, defending the agency's lack of communication and confirming information on Thursday.
"I understand that there's a need, a want and a desire to inform our community and I am 100% with you. I want to make sure our community knows that we are doing everything that we can to keep them safe as we investigate this homicide of our deputy," McIntosh said. "But I am just want to reiterate that I am not going to compromise our investigation by releasing information too soon that would do just that and I'm asking you to partner with me in that so we can make sure that as this goes to court and it goes through the legal process that identification can usually be a big deal is no issue because we partnered together to make sure to release the information at the proper time."
Anyone with information on the incident should immediately call deputies at 720-322-1313.
