The Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office has released more information on the shooting last Wednesday, including the identities of those involved, that left a 65-year-old Durango man dead.
According to a news release, Gary Phipps was identified as the man who allegedly trespassed onto a property between Pagosa Springs and Bayfield on U.S. Highway 160 and was shot by a neighbor.
Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office Undersheriff Tonya Hamilton said dispatch received a call from Pagosa Springs resident Don Nix, 71, around 10:45 p.m., reporting that he had just shot an intruder on his neighbor’s property.
Archuleta County Sheriff’s deputies arrived on scene and confirmed that Phipps was deceased. Deputies then closed a portion of U.S. Highway 160 to secure the scene until Colorado Bureau of Information arrived the next day.
Nix told authorities he noticed someone with a flashlight walking around the entrance of his neighbor’s property. Nix approached Phipps, and the two had an “unproductive conversation” about Phipp’s reason for being on the property, the news release said.
Nix then told Phipps that the Sheriff’s Office was on the way, and Phipps pulled out a knife and attacked Nix.
Nix told authorities both men struggled and fell to the ground. Nix said he hit Phipps with a flashlight hoping that he would release the knife. But when that was unsuccessful, Nix pulled out his gun and shot Phipps multiple times.
A pronouncement of death was made at 9:25 a.m. Thursday. Archuleta County Coroner Dan Keuning found the official cause of death to be “homicide due to multiple gunshot wounds to the chest.”
Hamilton said no arrests have been made. However, the case is still under investigation, she said.
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