by\u00a0Martha Neil<\/a><\/p>\n A Colorado judge who signed search warrants to be used in an ongoing probe of the slaying of the state’s prison superintendent went into hiding for at least two weeks after allegedly being threatened by 211 Crew gang members, investigators say.<\/p>\n El Paso County Judge Jonathan Walker resumed the bench this week, but the situation highlights the danger posed by members of the prison gang, which has ties to\u00a0drug trafficking\u00a0and white supremacists, reports the\u00a0ABC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThey want to kill cops, people from\u00a0district attorney\u2019s office, anybody that represents\u00a0law enforcement,\u201d said investigator Bobby Brown of the 211 Crew. \u201cThey are vicious. They are for real.\u201d<\/p>\n Investigators are pursuing a theory that the killing of a pizza\u00a0delivery driver\u00a0in the Denver area earlier this year is tied to the killing of state prisons chief Tom Clements a short time later and that former Colorado prisoner Evan Ebel, who died in a shootout with law enforcement officers in Texas earlier this year, is responsible for both slayings, the\u00a0Denver Post<\/a>\u00a0reports. The article relies on unidentified sources for the information, which the newspaper says is contained in sealed court documents, and says that 211 Crew may have ordered the assassination of Clements.<\/p>\n Another\u00a0Denver Post<\/a>\u00a0article, which relies on an anonymous source, said the judge’s life was threatened by 211 Crew members and that he was advised to move out of his home because it was easily accessible on a busy street. He also reportedly purchased a gun and began wearing a bulletproof vest after several individuals, including a former client, warned of death threats.<\/p>\n No comment from the judge is included in the articles. However, a former department of corrections parole director, Tim Hand, confirmed that he also had been targeted in a 211 Crew assassination plot revealed by intercepted correspondence among gang members.<\/p>\n “My name came out as one of those persons they wanted,” he told the Post.<\/p>\n An earlier\u00a0ABAJournal.com<\/a>\u00a0post provides additional details about the investigation. At one point, there was speculation that Ebel could have been involved in the slaying of a Texas prosecutor, but\u00a0a fired justice of the peace has since been charged with capital murder<\/a>\u00a0in that case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Prison gang threatened judge in connection with probe of superintendent\u2019s slaying by\u00a0Martha Neil A Colorado judge who signed search warrants to be used in an ongoing probe of the slaying of the state’s prison superintendent went into hiding for at … Continue reading