BRIGHTON, Colo. — A 51-year-old man from Adams County was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Friday after shooting at a family driving along Highway 36 in 2019.
Theodore Hrdlicka pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted murder on Sept. 8 before District Attorney Brian Mason sentenced him Friday.
The charge stems from early August 2019. A grandfather had been driving with his son and young grandson on Highway 36 in Adams County toward Estes Park for a camping trip when they noticed a person in a pickup truck driving recklessly, according to the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
As the driver approached them, they heard gunshots.
The driver of the truck, later identified as Courtney Hrdlicka, 32, pulled up alongside the family. Theodore Hrdlicka, her husband, stuck a gun outside the front passenger-side window and shot at the other car, according to the district attorney's office.
Multiple bullets hit the family's car. One was just inches from the grandson and left him covered in metal fragments, according to the district attorney's office.
Courtney Hrdlicka kept driving and her husband continued to open fire, striking two other vehicles. They then fled from the area.
Shortly afterward, the couple was arrested at a home in Adams County.
During a subsequent investigation, authorities determined that the couple had committed the same sort of crimes in Arapahoe County just before the one in Adams County, according to the district attorney's office. Earlier that day, Littleton police said they received a report of a similar sort of road rage incident at the intersection of S. Santa Fe Drive and W. Belleview Avenue.
Courtney Hrdlicka was charged and pleaded guilty to accessory to a crime in Adams County and first-degree assault with a deadly weapon in Arapahoe County. Earlier this year, she was sentenced to 10 years in the Department of Corrections.
Theodore Hrdlicka pleaded guilty to attempted murder and a sentence enhancer, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison, but his case in Arapahoe County is still pending.
District Attorney Brian Mason said his actions were "appalling and unfathomable."
“These innocent victims were going on a family camping trip when Mr. Hrdlicka inexplicably started shooting at a little boy, his father, and his grandfather. I’m grateful we were able to achieve justice in this case," he said.
