In a tragic turn of events that began with a simple mistake, Christopher King, a 49-year-old man, lost his life. The night of May 29, 2017, in Boulder, Colorado, was supposed to be a social gathering, but it ended in a fatal shooting at the Bramble and Hare restaurant on the Pearl Street Mall. King had been invited to a party by a woman he had a past relationship with, an invitation she had intended for someone else but sent to him by accident.
Despite the error, she extended the invitation to him anyway.
The party eventually moved to the Bramble and Hare restaurant. Among the group was Louis Sebastian, 32, who had been invited by a co-host to increase the number of guests. Throughout the evening, tension reportedly grew between King and Sebastian, fueled by political disagreements and a shared romantic interest in the woman who had thrown the party. The simmering conflict boiled over when the group's dinner bill came up short by $100.
The dispute over the bill escalated to the point where King and Sebastian agreed to take their argument outside. Shortly after they exited the restaurant, gunshots rang out. A chef at the restaurant, a former Marine, heard the shots and saw Sebastian come back inside and continue to shoot King. The chef heroically intervened, tackling Sebastian and disarming him.
When police arrived, they found Sebastian being restrained by the restaurant manager. Christopher King was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead. Investigators found eight shell casings at the scene. Louis Sebastian was arrested and subsequently charged with first-degree murder and carrying a concealed weapon. In February 2019, a jury found him guilty of the murder of Christopher King. He was immediately sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
