Scott Gudmunsen/Photo Courtesy of Loveland Police Department/9 News
Scott Gudmundsen, a former cop, held a Black college student and a white coworker at gunpoint in June 2020, claiming that the two were members of ANTIFA and a terrorist group. The 66-year-old man was sentenced on Tuesday to four years of probation for threatening the Colorado State University football athlete Barry Wesley.
Located in Fort Collins, about 60 miles north of Denver, CSU is considered a leading research university with an NCAA Division I football team. While attending the school and working as a door-to-door salesman in nearby Loveland, Wesley
crossed paths with Gudmundsen on June 11 and quickly wished he hadn’t.During the incident, Gudmundsen allegedly forced Wesley and his colleague to the ground at gunpoint. The former cop then proceeded to kneel on Wesley’s neck and threaten him. According to the Denver Post, the ex-cop told the Black CSU student he wouldn’t kill him and then said that police would.
Believing that he possibly suffered a mental episode, Gudmundsen’s lawyer, Ryan Markus, told the Denver Post, “I truly believe that Mr. Gudmundsen was suffering from mental health issues. That he acted on the training, he had had for years, much of which has since been changed, and rightly so.”
Gudmundsen apologized for the incident at Tuesday’s hearing, claiming he was “in a fog” due to recent knee surgery and “horrified” by his behavior that day. The Denver Post reports that Eighth Judicial District Court Judge Michelle Brinegar sentenced him to probation following an entered plea deal. She was allegedly unable to legally send Gudmundsen to prison due to the deal’s terms.
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Wesley detailed his horrifying experience at the hearing, saying, “I can still feel how hard and how fast my heartbeat was. I can still remember the amount of adrenaline in my body,”
“I was certain my death was going to be another hashtag, another reason for people to protest because it was clear that to Mr. Gudmundsen, my Black life did not matter.”
Per his probation sentence, Gudmundsen is required to be monitored via GPS for three to six months and complete 100 hours of community service.