Colorado chief shot hours before gun laws tightened

The head of Colorado state’s prison system was shot and killed at his home, just hours before the governor signed landmark gun control legislation drafted in response to a series of mass shootings.

Police said Tom Clements, 58, executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, was shot once at his home in the town of Monument. The shooting did not appear to be linked to home invasion or robbery, said El Paso County Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant Jeff Kramer.

Officials said they had started a search on Tuesday night, but by last night they had not identified any suspects. “We don’t know if the shooting was random,” Kramer said.

He said investigators were considering the possibility that Clements’ position as head of state prisons could have motivated the shooting.

Governor John Hickenlooper hours later signed legislation to expand background checks on gun buyers and limit the size of ammunition magazines that may be sold.

Last summer, the Colorado town of Aurora experienced one of the worst mass shootings when a gunman shot dead 12 people inside a movie theatre. In December, the shooting dead of school children in Newtown, Connecticut, intensified the debate about gun violence.

But an assault weapons ban sought by President Barack Obama ran into trouble on Tuesday when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid acknowledged there was not enough support for it.