1998 Alma rampage

Murder and vehicle attack on town October 2026 March 2025 1998 Alma rampage 5:30p.m.1a.m. MST 1998 02 26 1998 02 27 Alma, Colorado, US Alma, Colorado Fire station Post office Town hall Water treatment Thomas Leask Willie Morrison 100000(eq. $US 100000 1998 c -3 in US) Pled guilty×13 charges Life + 27 years The 1998 Alma rampage was a murder and vehicle-ramming attack in the small Colorado town on February 26 and 27, perpetrated by Thomas Leask. Background Alma, Colorado is a town, 65 mi southwest of Denver, at an elevation of 10578 ft. In 1995, the Federal Bureau of Investigation designated Alma the safest town in the United States, with a crime rate of zero percent. Willie Morrison (born 40 1998 02 26 1 1) was the mayor from April 1994March 1995, and still worked for the town until the third week of February 1998, when he and several town council members resigned in protest of a newly hired marshal. The contemporary population of Alma was 150 people. Thomas Leask (born 50 1998 02 28 1 1) drove a snowplow part-time and was a native of Alma. By early 1998, he had begun living in a backyard shack and stockpiling wood in his house. He had reportedly been fighting with municipal authorities since being forced onto the town's water supply network during Morrison's tenure as mayor. Attack thumb|Alma town hall in July 2020 At around 5:30p.m. on February 26, 1998, Leask shot and killed Willie Morrison in the Alma town hall, leaving behind six Molotov cocktails. He then stole a town-owned front-end loader, and drove it into the local water treatment plant, disabling the town's water supply, leading to the loss of thousands of gallons of water, which resulted in sheets of ice on the Alma streets. Afterwards, Leask took the military-surplus heavy equipment and rammed Alma's town hall, fire department, and post office, leaving holes that measured 10 by 15 ft and disrupting telephone service. At around 1a.m., having already set his house on fire, Leask was arrested in a nearby grove, armed with a .45-caliber pistol and a 30.06 rifle. Aftermath The destruction in Alma required Colorado State Highway 9 to be closed down for several hours. Repairing the damage in town was estimated to cost at least 100000 1998 -3 yes, a prohibitive amount for Alma's municipal finances. Locals suspected Leask's motive could have been the legally-imposed connection to municipal water, Morrison's alleged outing of Leask as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, or a prohibition of Leask's outhouse; Leask told investigators from the Park County, Colorado sheriff's office that he had been "directed by God." On February 27, Leask was being held pending investigation on charges on first-degree arson, criminal mischief, and first-degree murder, to which he said in court, "I plead guilty to all of it". He was assigned a public defender against his wishes, and held without bail. On March 9, Leask was formally charged with 13 criminal counts, including first-degree arson, first-degree burglary, and first-degree murder. Leask's neighbor, David Rowe, was charged with accessory to murder for helping Leask evade sheriff's deputies, a felony charge with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Rowe was instead sentenced to twelve days in jail on the misdemeanor charge of obstructing justice. While in Park County pre-trial detention, Leask stabbed himself in the chest with improvised sharpened weapons; he was treated and held for psychiatric evaluation in the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo. In October 1998, Leask was found mentally incompetent to stand trial; the following spring he was found competent by two state physicians. In June 2000, Leask pled guilty to 13 charges, and was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 27 years. 2004 06, he was institutionalized in a Colorado psychiatric hospital. See also 1995 San Diego tank rampage List of vehicle-ramming attacks References Hartman Todd 1998-02-28 Pandemonium breaks out in Park County Smith Steven A. The Gazette en 126 342 Fairplay, Colorado A1, A12 2691-3364 Slaying of Alma's ex-mayor eclipses political commotion 1998-02-28 Plow driver arrested in rampage Mertens Bill The Hawk Eye en 161 234 Alma, Colorado Associated Press 5A 1073-9297 Tearing up the town: Part-time worker admits to killing former mayor, damaging buildings in town. Weller Robert 1998-02-28 Man Tears Up Town With Big Earth Mover Former Mayor Killed, Water And Phones Out https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1998/feb/28/man-tears-up-town-with-big-earth-mover-former/ live The Spokesman-Review en 2993-1274 11102529 https://web.archive.org/web/20230921182743/https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1998/feb/28/man-tears-up-town-with-big-earth-mover-former/ 2023-09-21 2024-07-15 1998-03-01 Snowplow driver arrested in rampage O'Brien Eliot Farmington Daily Times en 110 212 Alma, Colorado Associated Press E7 2833-9045 30024519 Kills former town mayor 1998-03-02 Alma rampage surprised few acquainted with suspect Smith Steven A. The Gazette en 126 344 Alma, Colorado Associated Press NEWS2 2691-3364 Anti-government views common in hamlet 1998-03-05 Man charged in deadly Alma rampage Smith Steven A. The Gazette en 126 347 Fairplay, Colorado Associated Press NEWS5 2691-3364 Second suspect faces accessory count 1998-03-10 Man accused in Alma death is charged with murder Smith Steven A. The Gazette en 126 352 Fairplay, Colorado Associated Press NEWS5 2691-3364 1998-03-12 Alma rampage suspect tries to commit suicide Smith Steven A. The Gazette en 126 354 Associated Press NEWS3 2691-3364 Man undergoing psychiatric evaluation 1998-08-05 Alma, Colorado Orbanek George Yell earns man 12 days in jail The Daily Sentinel en 105 259 Associated Press 2B 1545-8962 1999-12-22 Fairplay, Colorado King Lawrence D. Man to Stand Trial In Mayor's Killing Omaha World-Herald en 135 67 Associated Press 21 2641-9653 1585533 Harrison Wayne Nguyen Kim Ngan 2004-06-04 Rampaging Bulldozer Driver Found Dead http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/3383547/detail.html dead en Granby, Colorado KMGH-TV https://web.archive.org/web/20060526094629/http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/3383547/detail.html 2006-05-26 2023-06-21 Heemeyer Apparently Had Disputes With City Over His Business Anas Brittany 2004-06-06 Alma still shaken by 1998 rampage that left ex-mayor dead http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0%2C1413%2C36%7E53%7E2195570%2C00.html dead The Denver Post en 1930-2193 8789877 https://web.archive.org/web/20050204225055/http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E53%257E2195570,00.html 2005-02-04 2024-07-08 Category:1990s crimes in Colorado Category:1990s vehicle-ramming attacks Category:1998 murders in the United States Category:arson in 1998 Category:arson in Colorado Category:attacks in the United States in 1998 Category:attacks on buildings and structures in 1998 Category:attacks on buildings and structures in Colorado Category:attacks on government buildings and structures in the United States Category:burglary Category:February 1998 crimes in the United States Category:Park County, Colorado Category:Vehicle-ramming attacks in the United States