Colo. Gov: I Was Caught in 'Nightmare' of Shooting

Good friend Tom Clements was allegedly killed by son of another friend
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 24, 2013 3:24 PM CDT
Colo. Gov: I Was Caught in 'Nightmare' of Shooting
In this Dec. 12, 2012 file photo, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper speaks at his office in the Capitol in Denver.   (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File)

Still reeling from the shooting death of corrections chief Tom Clements, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed some of the nation's toughest gun laws into effect on Wednesday. Then it turned out that the suspect in Clements' murder was Evan Spencer Ebel, the troubled son of a good friend of Hickenlooper who eventually died in a shoot-out in Texas. Hickenlooper addressed the turmoil today, telling CNN, "I felt like I was caught in a nightmare I couldn't wake up from. All these things were happening to people that I loved. And they didn't seem to be connected in any way."

Hickenlooper and Ebel's father, Jack Ebel, have a friendship that dates back to the '80s. "From the beginning his son just seemed to have this bad streak, this streak of cruelty and anger. And yet, they did everything they could. They worked with Evan again and again, but to no avail. He had a bad, bad streak." (More John Hickenlooper stories.)

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