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 deadly confrontation. Brandon Lee Wayne Hart, a 46-year-old Caucasian man, was involved in a physical altercation inside the bar with 25-year-old Fort Carson soldier Robert Kristo; witnesses reported Hart on top of Kristo, elbowing him in the face. After the fight Kristo paid his tab, left briefly to retrieve a firearm from his vehicle and told a friend he was still upset. When Hart stepped outside for a cigarette, Kristo approached and fired two shots, striking Hart. Patrons performed CPR but Hart died before law enforcement arrived around 1 a.m. His death was the city’s first homicide in 2022.

Kristo fled but was found several hours later at a strip club in eastern Colorado Springs and was arrested; a firearm was recovered from his vehicle. He was charged with first-degree murder and two counts of felony menacing and made an initial appearance in Colorado’s 4th Judicial District Court, where a preliminary hearing was scheduled.