The Custer County man accused of killing three people and injuring another in a dispute over property in rural southern Colorado was arrested Tuesday in New Mexico.
New Mexico State Police and the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Hanme K. Clark, who is believed to have fled the scene after shooting four people on Monday near a home at 173 Rocky Ridge Road in Custer County, 10 miles north of Westcliffe.
Clark was arrested at approximately 1:30 p.m. Tuesday while driving south on Interstate 25 toward Albuquerque, according to a news release from the U.S. Marshals Service. New Mexico law enforcement identified his vehicle, and a team of officers and marshals stopped Clark’s vehicle using spike strips and blocking his vehicle with police vehicles.
The shooting was reported at 1:01 p.m. Monday, Sheriff Rich Smith said at a news conference Tuesday. It took deputies 20 minutes to arrive at the scene because of the property’s remote location.
Deputies conducted a high-risk entry to search for survivors and transported one critically injured woman, Patty Daulton, to Colorado Springs for treatment. She is expected to survive.
Rob Geers, Beth Wade and James Daulton were killed in the shooting, Custer County officials confirmed Tuesday.
Residents in a two-mile radius were ordered to shelter in place on Monday as Fremont County SWAT searched the area using night vision, thermal imaging, drones and a foot search, Smith said. The area was cleared at 8 p.m.
The shooting occurred along the property line in a wooded area, according to the sheriff’s office. One person who witnessed the shooting was able to flee safely.
Local law enforcement was very familiar with the dispute between Clark and the victims, Smith said, and deputies had responded to Clark’s house several times about the issue.
“There was absolutely no indication it would lead to this,” Smith said.
The dispute involved an easement onto Clark’s property and neighbors using an informal gravel road to drive through the property, Smith said, and Clark was on the victim’s property when he shot them.
One week before the shooting, a local landowner asked that Clark be held in contempt of a June 2022 court order that allowed them to cross his property to access their land. Clark was accused of locking a gate and posting a sign near the gate that said “the owner of this property is armed,” Kevin Flesch, an attorney for one of the defendants, told the Associated Press.
The victims were not named in the recent contempt of court filings.
The property, 165 Rocky Ridge Road, is owned by Clark through a nonprofit called Herbal Gardens Wellness, according to Smith and Custer County property records.
The group registered with the Colorado Secretary of State in 2013, and its volunteers “provide and promote the best health care available for Native people in urban, suburban, rural, and tribal lands,” according to the state filing. Clark is listed as a co-chairman on the nonprofit’s initial filing with the state.
The organization provides health consultation, nutrition consulting, talking circles, behavioral health and health communication circles, according to the state filing.
Clark is in custody at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque and will be extradited back to Colorado.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
