It is being treated as a homicide. I’m referring to the death of Rye’s Fred Ettleman, on February 24, in the Northern Avenue King Soopers parking lot. That same evening at almost the same time there was another homicide in Pueblo. Fred was either the 2nd or 3rd homicide victim of the year in Pueblo County.
Last year (2022) in the United States there were 19,472 homicides. The state of Colorado had 236 of those homicides. That was down from the 366 homicides in 2021 in Colorado. Pueblo County had 26 homicides.
Just to give you some contrast, the leading cause of death in the United States and in Colorado, during 2022, was from heart disease. That means 675,230 people died in the United States last year from heart disease; and Colorado saw heart disease kill 8,210 people. I searched for heart disease victims in Pueblo County and couldn’t find that number.
So, statisticians will tell you that you are almost 35 times more likely to die from heart disease as you are to be the victim of a homicide in Colorado.
Somehow it doesn’t seem the same. With heart disease you would have had a warning. Your doctor would have started telling you, perhaps years ago, to change your diet. He would have recommended more or specific exercises. He would have written prescriptions guaranteed to lengthen your life.
And even though, no matter when you go it surprises someone, at your funeral there would have been knowing nods and comments between friends and family. “He sure liked bread,” one might say while another critiques the amount of beer the deceased consumed and a third would offer the opinion that the walking the deceased had been doing had seemed to help.
A visit with the Pueblo Police Department on Monday went something like this: The department is following active leads. The department is continuing to explore all angles. The department has made no arrests. The department has nothing concrete to report.
Perhaps I missed it but the car of interest reported several days ago was reported found. Have you heard anything beyond that? Was there a reason that the entire valley knew who the victim was before the coroner announced the name a scant few hours before the funeral?
Was a weapon found? Shell casings? Has it been established why Fred was in the King Sooper’s lot on a Friday night? Had he been in the store? The list is endless.
Perhaps, it is just frustration, impatience and a sense of loss. Over the years I have interviewed Fred a number of times. I attended the church where he served as elder. I wrote and photographed Memorial Day services in which Fred, as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post commander, was almost always in a prominent role.
I had several non-business talks with Fred about private matters that had nothing to do with VFW, or insurance, or the Baptist Church. The most recent was within the last several weeks, and an issue that began years ago was resolved.
Like all of us who take up space on this planet Fred was not a perfect man, but every time I see his picture, such as on the last page of today’s paper where he is displayed in his insurance ad, I feel a sense of loss.
Fred served his country in the military. Fred served several communities through his work. Fred served his church. Fred was a family man. Much of that can be said of the nearly 50,000 people who died in Colorado last year.
But most of them weren’t shot down in a King Soopers parking lot. And, at least for me, that makes it different and I want answers. Don’t you?
