Saguache Deputy's Bodycam of Fatal Crestone Shooting Revealed
The bodycam footage of the fatal shooting of a Crestone man by a Saguache deputy is revealed
Bodycam footage reveals it was Saguache Deputy Jeremy Talbott's first solo day on the job when he shot and killed Crestone resident Jonathan Wood last week. He tried to arrest Wood on a warrant by himself despite knowing the warrant was related to assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. In the previous incident Wood had told deputies he had a transmitter in his brain and that Elon Musk was trying to kill him. Saguache deputies knew he was paranoid and delusional.
Be Scofield is a prominent cult reporter who exposed Love Has Won which led to the hit HBO series. Her work is cited by the NY Times, Rolling Stone, Dr. Phil, People, Netflix, and more. She is the author of Hunting Lucifer: One Reporter's Search for Cults and Demons. CONTACT: bescofieldreporter @ gmail.com
August 3rd, 2024
WARNING: Graphic scenes of violence, shooting and blood below.
"He's mafia, he's mafia, he's mafia." Those are some of the last words of Crestone resident Jonathan Wood as he lay dying on the side of Camino Baca Grande road. Bodycam footage of Saguache Deputy Jeremy Talbott shows him firing twice at Wood before he collapses to the ground. Wood then screams, "You killed me! You killed me! You shot me!" several times as Talbott places him in handcuffs.
"I had a guy attack me with a stick. Shots fired," Deputy Talbott says over the radio. An older man pulls off and approaches them to help. "Did you see him attack me with the stick?" Talbott says to him.
Still conscious, Jonathan Wood tries to sit up. He asks the older man for water. Then Deputy Talbott lifts his shirt looking for the bullet wound. The bodycam reveals a large bloody wound on his side torso near the lung. "I'm dying," Wood says. "He hit me a few times with a stick," Talbott says again to the older man. "I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die," Wood repeats as he becomes more agitated.
Watch the full bodycam footage
Within ten minutes there were two bystanders helping and a few volunteer Crestone first responders administering aid. "I knew him," Deputy Talbott tells the first responders. "He had a warrant. I tried to stop him and he beat me with a stick. He hit me a few times. It was a walking stick when he had it."
By Talbott's own admission he believed Wood had a walking stick when he shot him twice. The first bullet appears to have pierced Wood's chest and exited through his other side. The second bullet appears to have hit his lower leg.
By Talbott's own admission he believed Wood had a walking stick when he shot him twice.
The entire incident happened in just seconds. After Talbott approaches, he identifies himself as "deputy Talbott." Wood drops his bags and clutches his stick. Talbott tries to calm him. He then lunges towards the deputy jabbing him with the stick and then swings. “I’ll swear to god I’ll fucking you shoot you," Talbott says as he pulls out his gun. A few seconds later he fired two shots at Wood. He can be heard screaming in agony.
It appears to have been Deputy Jeremy Talbott's first day on the job. He says to Captain Ken Wilson with a sigh, "First day." Wilson replies, "First day." Talbott says, "It happens."
In a Facebook post Talbott says he graduated from the police academy on May 17th, 2024. There's a photo of him being sworn in by Saguache Sheriff Dan Warwick. Talbott would have then shadowed for a few months with other deputies. His first day solo appears to have been Thursday, July 25th, the day he shot and killed Jonathan Wood.
“Loves god, guns, trucks, Harleys, friends, family, our troops, and country music," reads his about section on Facebook. "If you don't like any of these we're not friends.”
At 26 minutes into the bodycam footage Talbott asks an EMS responder, "Is he passed?" He nods his head and says, "yeah."
"First day." Wilson replies, "First day." Talbott says, "It happens."
"Are you ok?" Captain Ken Wilson can be seen asking him. "Yeah, a few scuffs," Talbott replies. "He hit me a few times." Wilson asks, "Where did he hit you?" Talbott replies, "I don't know. I think I blocked most of the shots with my arm."
The bodycam footage reveals a thin copper pipe laying on the ground with a significant bend in it. Talbott realizes later in the video that it was a pipe and not a walking stick. Copper is pliable and bent immediately after hitting the deputy. It was later revealed to be a hollow and lightweight copper tube that Wood used to carry his bags over his shoulder with and as a walking stick.
Jonathan was 40-yrs old when he was killed. He recently had sold his guitar store in Utah and bought a home in Crestone. Locals that knew him described him as smart, kind, well read and "really nice." But they also say he was paranoid about the government and thought Crestone would be a good place to be when the world ends.
"He thought Crestone is the Nexus, the spiritual center of the world," his brother told me. "He believed all religions could unify." He said Wood was focusing on meditation and playing music while in Crestone. "He was a peaceful, non-violent person."
"One of the most egregious civil rights violations"
"He said there's people under our house and he hears their voices," Jonathan Wood's neighbor told Saguache deputy Barrios in August of 2023. The neighbors called them after Wood appeared on their property acting erratic and with a large stick. They told deputies Wood was threatening them and that he said there were people in their shed and under the house. "I just want to make sure he's gonna get arrested," the neighbor tells Barrios. "He threatened me."
"He thought he was going to save the people under the house," Wood's brother told me. He said Wood had a mental decline in 2020 and in the last two years he began suffering with significant delusions. "At one point he heard a voice say 'Spiritual attack coming on all sides.' And then he was hearing 15 voices a day, everyday.”
The deputies went to question Wood but he was already in his RV next to his home. In total, six deputies arrived on scene to apprehend him but he refused to come out.
"Come on out or else we're breaking the window," Barrios yells several times. Wood can be heard faintly yelling in the background of the bodycam. Barrios breaks the window out and another deputy sticks his arm inside and pepper sprays. Wood tries but fails to hit the officers arm with a stick to get him out of the RV.
"You're about to get fucking shot you jackass," another deputy yells at Wood. "Guns out," Barrios yells as she pulls out her gun. Within seconds there are several gun lasers pointed inside the RV. "I didn't do anything," Wood yells repeatedly.
Watch the bodycam footage from the August, 2023 arrest (edited for time purposes)
Wood can be faintly heard yelling delusional statements. "Saguache, go ahead and call mental health," Barrios says on the radio. "I'm going to deescalate," she says as she puts her gun away and walks close to the window. Wood asks if she's a "Nephilim" or some type of alien. "I'm a human," Barrios responds.
After many more minutes of a standoff Wood finally opens the door. "No guns, no weapons," he shouts. "There's also people under my house, in my house, right there," he tells Barrios. "I didn't do anything, I didn't do anything."
Barrios tries to convince Wood to come out. "I'm in my house and they put Neuralink in me," he says referring to Elon Musk's brain implant. "I ain't doing shit. It's the end of the world."
"What happened?" another deputy asks him. "I heard people under ground screaming 'help me' over there," Wood says as he points to his neighbors. "They put Neuralink in me 2.5 years ago against my will. And now I'm connected to this thing where I hear these fuckers all the time. It's Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Richard Bronson. Are you Nephilim? I heard people under the house, they're under my house, everyone's house. They're under the Sand Dunes."
A few minutes later the six deputies enter his home and a brief struggle ensues. The deputies allege Wood punched one of them but it's not visible in the bodycam footage. "Don't kill me please," he says repeatedly as they put him in the back of the Sheriff's vehicle. "Do you think I'm Neptunian? There's seven dimensions. Seven heavens. Please have mercy on me. Do not rape me."
Wood was charged with resisting arrest, trespassing and assault on an officer for this incident which occurred on August 11th, 2023.
"He was extremely paranoid and thought people were being captured and replaced with drones," his brother told me. His brother said that Wood believed the voices were real. "He says they are not real cops and that they are mafia."
A friend of Wood's said he had been microdosing psychedelic mushrooms over the last many months. He also smoked marijuana.
Wood was bailed out by his father but failed to show up to court. "I just arrested him a few weeks ago," deputy Talbott says in the shooting bodycam video. It was Talbott who had arrested him for failing to appear prior to the shooting death. He would have been still in training, shadowing with other deputies.
"His lawyer told him it was one of the most egregious civil rights violations he had seen in his career," Wood's brother told me. The lawyer had seen the bodycam footage. "The Civil Rights attorney and others were saying please go to court because they will throw this out and it’s an embarrassment," his brother said.
"His lawyer told him it was one of the most egregious civil rights violations he had seen in his career."
Under Colorado law police can only enter a home with consent, a warrant or if a suspect was fleeing. The deputies had no warrant and Wood was not fleeing. He was in his home at his first encounter with the deputies. "I think he may have been sleeping," his brother told me.
"This was criminal mischief," his brother said. "Trespassing. Nothing more. A misdemeanor at best. So when a minor thing happens there is a massive overreaction. Ultimately he was shot as a result of a warrant that shouldn't exist based on forced entry into a home without a warrant."
Wood didn't show up to his court date, however. On July 25th deputy Talbott saw him walking down Camino Baca Grande. "I've got Jonathan Wood here," he radios before approaching him. "I knew him," he says later. "He's mafia, he's mafia, he's mafia," Wood yelled immediately after Talbott shot him.
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