A man who was granted a permanent restraining order against Martin Wirth, the gunman who shot three Park County sheriff’s deputies on Wednesday, said he wasn’t at all surprised to learn Wirth was involved.
Dan Spykstra said he was running a drug and alcohol counseling center in 2005 when Wirth, a then-client, made threats against his life.
“He said he was going to put a bomb in my mailbox,” Spykstra told The Denver Post on Thursday. “He said he was going to shoot me while I was on my way home and that I was in his crosshairs.”
Spykstra’s account provides another look at the violent tendencies of Wirth, who had a history of run-ins with the law and was once accused of murder in Fort Collins.
In 1994, when Wirth was 37, he was arrested in the shooting death of Vernie Samuel Cox III, 24. Witnesses said Wirth became upset during a chess game with Cox and shot him in the chest.
Wirth, who claimed Cox lunged for a gun, was acquitted of second-degree murder.
MORE: Park County sheriff’s deputy killed, two others wounded in shootout
Court records show roughly a month before Wednesday’s shootout, Wirth was stopped by Park County deputies for allegedly eluding law enforcement, driving under restraint and driving without insurance.
Authorities say on Wednesday, Wirth shot three Park County sheriff’s deputies with a rifle, killing one of them, as a group of officers tried to serve an eviction writ at Wirth’s home in Bailey. Wirth also was killed in the shootout.
Park County assessor’s records show ownership of the home and roughly 2 acres turned over to the Federal National Mortgage Association, known as Fannie Mae, is March 2014.
Several months earlier, Wirth filed a lawsuit in federal court saying Colorado foreclosure statutes were unconstitutional and seeking injunctive and declaratory relief.
“Wirth is only one of many thousands of persons and families who have been wrongfully deprived of real properties, homes and places of business during these economically troubled time,” the filing says.
The December 2013 suit lists Gov. John Hickenlooper and then-Attorney General John Suthers as defendants.
Park County court records show Spykstra filed a request for a restraining order against Wirth in 2005 that was granted permanently.
DOCUMENT: Read the full restraining order
Spykstra said Wirth came to his Gateway Youth and Family Services center in Bailey for court-ordered counseling following an arrest on charges of driving under the influence.
“We’d had problems with him,” Spykstra said. “He was disruptive in classes and we had one particular situation where he verbally went after one of my employees.”
Spykstra said despite his problems with the law, Wirth flew under the radar mostly, constantly blaming others for his own mistakes.
MORE: Suspected Bailey shooter fought the system in words and politics
“To be honest with you, I think he was actually very intelligent,” Spykstra said. “I think he did just enough to keep himself under the radar from much of anybody. He still spoke out very strongly about his dislike for politicians, law enforcement. He was very much a conspiracy theorist that believed everyone was out to get him.”
When Spykstra heard about the shootout in Bailey, which left his friend Cpl. Nate Carrigan dead, he wasn’t surprised at all to hear Wirth was the gunman.
“I really believed, even back then, that he was a dangerous person,” Spykstra said. “He had a chip on his shoulder almost to the point where he wanted to create problems as much as possible. He wanted to push people to the limit just to see how far he could push them.”
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or @JesseAPaul
