On the night of October 29, 2022, a dispute over a game of darts at the Corner Pocket Bar in Fountain, Colorado, escalated into a fatal encounter for Brandon Lee Wayne Hart, a 46-year-old Caucasian male. Inside the establishment, Hart and another man, later identified as 25-year-old Fort Carson soldier Robert Kristo, were involved in a physical altercation.
Witnesses stated that Hart was seen on top of Kristo, elbowing him in the face during the struggle.
Following the fight, Kristo paid his bar tab and left the building. However, instead of departing, he went to his vehicle and retrieved a firearm. He expressed to a friend that he was still upset about the earlier confrontation. When Hart stepped outside for a cigarette, Kristo approached him and fired two shots, striking him. Patrons at the scene attempted to render aid and performed CPR, but Hart succumbed to his injuries before law enforcement arrived around 1 a.m. His death was the first homicide in Fountain in 2022.
After the shooting, Robert Kristo fled the scene in his car. He was located and apprehended by police several hours later at a strip club in eastern Colorado Springs. A firearm was recovered from his vehicle at the time of his arrest. Kristo was subsequently charged with first-degree murder and two counts of felony menacing. He made his initial appearance in Colorado's 4th Judicial District Court, where a preliminary hearing was set. If convicted of first-degree murder, Kristo faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
