Four years ago, a young man from Boulder County was shot and killed by police near the mountain town of Silver Plume after calling 911 with car trouble. The incident got statewide attention. Lawsuits and a large settlement followed.
Now, Christian Glass’s family is opening a youth center in their son’s honor.
Get top headlines and KUNC reporting directly to your mailbox each week when you subscribe to In The NoCo.
With a big smile, Sally Glass opened the double doors of Creative Grounds, a multiroom space on Lyons’s main street.
Glass saw the building for the first time while driving through town a few years ago.
“I saw it was covered in graffiti, and then I saw a for sale sign go up, and I was like, ‘Hmm’,” she said.
Sally passed the building on her way to Georgetown, where the criminal trials against the officer who shot her son were held. At the time, Glass said her family was really struggling. She remembers thinking that Lyons was really gorgeous.
“My thoughts started churning. I was like, ‘Oh, that maybe we could do something, you know.’ I guess I just started thinking,” Sally said.
Years later, Creative Grounds is opening its doors.
The bright, cozy space is an arts-focused youth center with a cafe, pottery studio, a lounge with art supplies and a game room. A pinball machine Christian and his dad built will be moved in soon.
Glass said her son would have loved coming here. His passions were art and rocks.
“He always was really into geology,” Sally said. “I always used to find rocks in his pocket, and hence why we’ve got rock painting. That’s one of the activities we do.”
The idea behind Creative Grounds is simple: to be a place in the community where young people can go to hang out outside of home and school– a concept known as a “third space.”
For Glass, the project is bittersweet.
“So I feel incredibly sad, obviously, at times because we don’t have our son anymore, but I’m like, we have to. You know, we’re still alive, and what would Christian want us to do? And he would want us to be productive, positive and do some good. And that’s exactly what we’re trying to do.”
On the night of June 11, 2022, Christian was on his way back from a geology trip in Utah when his car got stuck on the side of the road near Silver Plume in Clear Creek County. When he called 911 for help, the young man appeared to be in some sort of mental distress. Christian said he was scared.
Law enforcement arrived, and Christian refused to get out of his car. Body camera video shows that an hour later, the encounter escalated; Deputies shot him to death while he was still inside his vehicle.
In 2023, the Glass family received a $19 million settlement from Clear Creek County and other jurisdictions that were involved in the incident. At the time, it was the largest police settlement in the state’s history. Nonmonetary outcomes included the creation of a crisis response team as well as bystander training, based on Christian’s death.
Then, in 2024, the officer who fired the fatal shots was convicted of reckless endangerment and then criminally negligent homicide the following year.
“We call it Christian’s money, and it is blood money,” Sally said. “And we were like, ‘What do we do with it?’ I really prayed, and I thought, what would Christian want us to do with it?” Glass said.
That money is funding Creative Grounds, the youth center in Lyons. Soon, a bronze statue of Christian, painting, will be positioned at the front door. Glass said all of this is a constant reminder of her son.
“When I come here, it does put a smile on my face,” Glass said. “I believe he’s here. I believe his spirit and his energy is here, and I think he’s really happy.”
Learn more about visiting the new center.
