Four shots were fired on a downtown Craig street in October of 1997. One of those shots left Diana (Mansfield) LeCompt, 46, fatally wounded and her boyfriend Gary Dee Wingo, 53, injured.

In that short span of time, a woman who was a mother, grandmother, sister, daughter and friend was lost.

The shooter, Howard Towers will not spend the rest of his life behind bars for the act, but in an institution.

If cured of his mental illness, the 85-year-old man will be free to walk the streets.

“If that happens, everyone is in danger,” LeCompt’s sister Sandy Davis said.

That is not justice, family members said.

“I’m like everyone else. When I first found out, I wanted to see him fried,” LeCompt’s daughter, Rachael “Chaeli” Mulholland, 27, said. “I just wanted to see him in jail for life or the electric chair.”

The cause of the shooting remains unknown. The day of the it happened, LeCompt and Wingo were doing some last-minute packing. They had planned to move to Texas that day. Some family members speculate Towers thought LeCompt and Wingo were taking his things and did something he had threatened to do many times before started shooting.

Police responded to Towers’ Breeze Street home the afternoon of Oct. 4 because neighbors reported shots had been fired. Officers caught Towers’ leaving his home with two rifles in his hands. He dropped them when ordered to do so by police, but he still had a revolver in the front waistband of his pants. He reached for it, but an officer was able to grab it first. Towers fought the officer and was taken to the ground and handcuffed.

A small, black derringer fell out of the back of Tower’s waistband while he was on the ground.

Officers saw that a bullet had pierced a car across the street. When they went to look, they saw Wingo injured and bleeding profusely in the front seat of the car.

“The crazy old [man] from across the street shot me,” were the only words Wingo uttered before being taken to The Memorial Hospital. LeCompt was facing backwards in the front passenger seat. For her, it was too late for a trip to the hospital.

Onlookers said LeCompt was safe in the car until she rose up and shouted for a neighbor to call the police. Those few seconds were all Towers needed to get a clear shot with the bullet that pierced LeCompt’s neck and killed her instantly.

Mulholland was 8 and 1/2 months pregnant with her second child the day she found out about her mother’s death. She spent the night in the hospital, concerned about the health of her unborn child.

The news that her mother was dead had a crushing affect on LeCompt, who said she and her mother had always been very close.

But Mulholland isn’t the only person LeCompt’s death affected.

Davis describes LeCompt as compassionate, fun-loving and friendly. She said that if children at a nearby park were in danger from the bullets, LeCompt would have given her life to save them, but the way the shooting occurred, her death was for nothing.

And, it could have been prevented, she said, which was why the case had little publicity.

According to Davis, police officers told family members not to talk to the media about what happened.

Towers was known by neighbors as a cruel man who often shouted obscenities at those who passed by and had threatened to shoot people before. LeCompt even warned family members to stay away from “the crazy old man,” and to not park near his driveway.

Davis said Towers had a history of violence, but none of the people he threatened would file a complaint, so there was nothing officers could do.

Doing nothing led Mulholland to blame police officers for her mother’s death.

“Why didn’t policemen do something about it to begin with?” she asked. “After something like this happens, you’re mad at the world. It seems nothing gets done until someone gets killed. You always think ‘what if.'”

Mulholland wanted to sue the police department after the incident, but was talked out of it by several attorneys.

“I wanted them to be partially liable,” she said. “They are there to serve and protect and they didn’t serve and protect my mother.”

Though attorneys tried, they couldn’t talk Mulholland out of filing a wrongful death suit against Towers.

She and her sister sued in July of 1998. In May of 1999, they were awarded a settlement a settlement that wiped out the assets that had previously disqualified Towers from public assistance. After the civil suit, Towers qualified for a public defender.

“My grandmother said, ‘If he can’t pay with his life, he should pay with his money,'” Mulholland said. “No amount of money is going to take away the pain and anguish, but I’m glad I went through with it.”

Waiting for the outcome of the civil case gave Mulholland something to do while waiting for Towers to come to justice through the criminal system.

Towers was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of use of a deadly weapon and first-degree assault.

Family members were sure he would spend the rest of his life in jail, but Towers threw a wrench in the system.

He claimed he was incompetent to stand trial.

Moffat County District Court Judge Joel Thompson ordered Towers take a competency exam at the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo (CMHIP).

In January 1998, the court made the preliminary finding that Towers was incompetent and ordered him into treatment until restored to competency.

Towers refused to take the medication doctors felt could cure him, so the court had to order that Towers be medicated.

Towers had been diagnosed with psychotic disorder, depressive disorder and dementia.

On June 30, 1999, the CMHIP gave the opinion that Towers was no longer incompetent to proceed. In August, Towers pled not guilty by reason of insanity.

Two evaluations were performed and both found Towers legally insane at the time of the crime and unable to distinguish right from wrong.

On June 5, 2000, Towers was sentenced to stay at the Pueblo mental hospital until restored to sanity. Thompson found that Towers did murder LeCompt and caused substantial bodily injury to Wingo, but had no other choice but to find him not guilty by reason of insanity.

No family member believes Towers was insane at the time of the shooting.

“It was a bunch of bull,” Davis said. “He’s learned to use the system. He’s no more insane than any of us.

“Bullies are cowards and that’s just what he is. He wasn’t even man enough to take responsibility for his actions.”

LeCompt’s relatives are angry with the ruling, but their faith in God is helping to see them through.

“I had the satisfaction that he would get his punishment before God if he didn’t get it here on Earth, but I really thought it would happen here,” Mulholland said.

LeCompt had lived in Craig nearly all her life. She worked for several area banks and was well-known and loved, Davis said.

LeCompt was the kind of person who tried to find the good in everyone.

“She would have even looked for the good in Howard Towers,” Davis said, her throat tight with tears. “If he had any problems, she would have tried to find them and help.”

The two sisters were always together, and that’s what Sandy said she will miss the most.

LeCompt was cremated and her ashes buried the same weekend her parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Those close to LeCompt walked away from the experience with a bad taste in their mouths and a mistrust for the judicial system.

“The system is doing what we’ve allowed it to do,” LeCompt’s cousin Patty Cattoor said. “Until we stand together and start trying to make some changes, this will continue to happen.”

She said the only way to deal with this type of tragedy is one day at a time.

“You get down on your knees a lot, I’ll tell you that.”