Mark Reis / The Colorado Springs Gazette via AP
Searchers use a dog on March 20 to search the area around the Monument, Colo. home of Colorado Department of Corrections Executive Director Tom Clements.
By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News
The executive director of Colorado?s department of corrections was shot dead by an unknown gunman at his home Tuesday night, apparently when he answered a ring at his front door, authorities said.
Why the director, Tom Clements, was shot and by whom was not clear.
?The initial information was the doorbell had rung and when Mr. Clements answered the door he was shot,? El Paso County Sheriff's Department spokesman Lt. Jeff Kramer said. Investigators were working to confirm that information.
No one else in the house was injured.
A call was received by the sheriff?s office at 8:37 p.m. local time Tuesday from Clements? wife at his home in the town of Monument, Kramer said. Deputies responded and confirmed that a deceased male, later identified as Clements, was on scene. The 58-year-old man was not transported to a hospital, Kramer said.
Police have a vague description of a vehicle that may be connected with the shooting, local NBC affiliate KUSA reported. Kramer said a witness saw a boxy, two-door car that was unoccupied and in the area of the shooting around 8:30 p.m local time.
The governor addressed Clements' shooting in a letter sent to all Department of Corrections employees early on Wednesday, Hickenlooper spokesman Eric Brown told NBC News in an email.
?Last night, Tom Clements was killed at his home in Monument,? Hickenlooper wrote in the message. ?I can hardly believe it, let alone write words to describe it.?
Related: Colorado governor sign landmark gun-control bills
Hickenlooper praised Clements as a man who was ?unfailingly kind and thoughtful.? The governor ordered all flags lowered to half-staff in the state on Wednesday.
?He was a great friend to me and I think all of us. In many ways he helped define who a public servant is,? said Hickenlooper, who appeared to hold back tears at a press conference. ?He is going to be deeply, deeply missed.?
Colorado Department of Corrections via Reuters
Tom Clements, the executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections
News of Clements' death came as Hickenlooper was expected on Wednesday to sign new gun bills limiting ammunition magazine capacity and expanding background checks on firearm purchases in the state, eight months after the Aurora movie theater shooting.
Investigators have not identified a suspect.? Authorities canvassed the wooded area around Clements residence with the help of canine units, Kramer said at a press conference on Wednesday morning.
?Because we don?t have a suspect identified, we don?t have an understanding at this point of what the suspect?s motive might have been,? Kramer said.
Whether or not Clements? position as director of the Department of Corrections played a role in his death remains under investigation.
?We?re sensitive to the fact that serving in that type of position could in fact make him a target of folks that would have motive to target him for a crime such as this,? Kramer said. ?However we?re making sure that we remain open-minded to a number of other theories as well.?
Clements wrote about the challenges faced by corrections officers in a message posted on the Departments of Corrections website ? including the violent death of one officer in September.
?Together we are ?building a safer Colorado for today and tomorrow,?? Clements wrote in the message.
?He was an inspirational leader,? Alison Morgan, a spokesperson for the Department of Corrections, said on Wednesday. ?He had a vision for the department and was exceptional at sharing that vision with staff and inspiring the 6,000 employees of the department.?
He is survived by his wife, Lisa, and daughters Rachel and Sara.
Clements was confirmed as the head of the state?s department of corrections in February 2011 in a unanimous vote of the state senate. He had previously worked as director of operations for adult correctional facilities in Missouri, and had over three decades of experience working in corrections, according to a 2011 press release from Hickenlooper?s office.
The Department of Corrections had a budget of $737 million in 2012, and monitored a total inmate population of more than 20,000.
This story was originally published on Wed Mar 20, 2013 7:30 AM EDT
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