FBI joins probe into Colorado bicyclist’s shooting death
May 19, 2015, 4:54 PM
In this photo taken Monday, May 18, 2015, a Weld County Sheriff’s Office deputy uses a metal detector to sweep for evidence in Windsor, Colo., after a cyclist was fatally shot. Lt. Richard Higuera says 48-year-old John Jacoby was cycling northwest of Windsor Lake when he was shot Monday morning. A passing motorist found his body. (Jason Pohl/The Coloradoan via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
(Jason Pohl/The Coloradoan via AP)
WINDSOR, Colo. (AP) — The FBI is helping investigate a bicyclist’s shooting death on a rural road in northern Colorado, police said Tuesday, about a month after the unsolved shooting of a driver in the area.
Police have been looking into whether the two shootings — one in the town of Windsor and one nearby — are connected.
They also follow a series of reports of people having their windows mysteriously shattered while driving in northern Colorado. But investigators have so far found no evidence of gunshots in those cases.
On Monday, a passing motorist found the body of John Jacoby, 48, alongside a road in Windsor, which is southeast of Fort Collins and has about 19,000 residents. He was shot twice sometime that morning, police said.
Jacoby’s death came less than a month after Cori Romero was shot in the neck on a major highway near Windsor.
Romero was driving on Interstate 25 on April 22 when her windshield suddenly shattered, and she realized she was wounded, authorities said. She managed to pull over and call for help.
Windsor Police Lt. Rich Higuera said Monday there does not appear to be a link between Romero’s shooting and Jacoby’s death. But Larimer County sheriff Justin Smith said Tuesday authorities do not yet know if the cases are connected. An investigation is ongoing.
Meanwhile, neither the police nor FBI disclosed details about why the FBI is involved in the probe into Jacoby’s death, Windsor’s first homicide in eight years.
FBI spokeswoman Amy Sanders said she could not comment on the details of the agency’s involvement because of the ongoing investigation.
Around the time that Romero was shot, a series of motorists reported having their vehicle windows shattered while driving in Larimer and Weld Counties.
In one case, a sheriff’s van transporting prisoners was hit by a projectile on I-25, shattering a passenger window, authorities said. In another, a motorist said his front driver’s side window was broken and might have been shot out near Interstate 76 in Weld County.
Another man said his rear window was shattered in Loveland.
No injuries were reported in those three incidents. Authorities have found no evidence the broken windows were caused by bullets.
According to the Coloradoan (http://noconow.co/1INbfCC ), Jacoby worked as a part-time park caretaker for the town and as a grocery store bagger. He was well-known in Windsor, and he rarely missed a Windsor High School football, basketball or baseball game.
Jacoby did not have a driver’s license and rode his bike every day.
“This just doesn’t happen in this town” Tony Bates, who grew up on the same street as Jacoby, told the newspaper. “I feel useless because I can’t do anything to find this person.”
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