Woman in wheelchair wounds gunman

Tuesday, November 13, 2001 - A woman who was paralyzed seven years ago while trying to help a rape victim shot and wounded a gunman in her yard early Sunday.

Jaquie Creazzo, 38, was armed when she went outside in her wheelchair with her three daughters, ages 16, 18, and 19, after smoke from a car fire seeped into her Jefferson County home at 3:15 a.m.

Justin Michael Getz, 21, who is suspected of setting the car ablaze to lure the Creazzos out of their house, came toward them screaming and firing two pistols, Creazzo said. "He was loaded for bears," she said.

Getz, the former boyfriend of Creazzo's eldest child, had pledged two days earlier to kill Creazzo and her three daughters after the oldest girl refused to reunite with him, Creazzo said.

Two firefighters and Creazzo's three daughters dove out of the way of the erratic gunfire, she said.

But instinctively, Creazzo fired a volley of bullets. One struck the attacker's leg and he fell. "I'm certain that if I hadn't responded, none of us would be here today," Creazzo said. "He had made threats to kill each and every one of us."

Getz was arrested on two counts of attempted murder, arson and attempted arson, Jefferson County sheriff's spokeswoman Jacki Tallman said. He was being held Monday in the Jefferson County Jail without bail, she said.

Casino worker Rhonda Maloney, 33, was on her way home from work in the early morning hours of Feb. 12, 1994, when Robert Harlan kidnapped her at the intersection of interstates 76 and 25, then raped her for two hours.

Maloney escaped in a car driven by Creazzo, who was driving by. Harlan gave chase and fired at least six shots into the vehicle, paralyzing Creazzo.

Harlan killed Maloney and was sentenced to death for her murder and rape. He remains on death row.

Shortly after Harlan's trial, Creazzo debated buying a gun. She said she was conflicted because friends told her criminals could take a gun away and use it on her.

"I had thought hundreds of times about using it," Creazzo said. "I had a lot of mixed emotions about it."

But too many people today have no respect for God or the law and she concluded she needed the gun for protection, she said.

"Some days I sit back and I don't know what this world is coming to," Creazzo said.

A single mother, Creazzo said she has always had a close relationship with her three daughters.

She said she had been trying for a long time to get her elder daughter to leave Getz. The young woman finally did as she completed an automotive repair course in Texas, Creazzo said.

But Getz came to Colorado to try to win her back, she said. When Creazzo's daughter refused, he allegedly threatened on Friday to kill her and her family.

Jefferson County sheriff's deputies had investigated the alleged threat Friday, but it came down to Creazzo's daughter's word against Getz's and he agreed to return to Texas, Creazzo said.

Still worried about the threats, Creazzo and her daughters slept together in the same bedroom Friday and Saturday night. They were awakened by the car fire, but remained in the house until firefighters appeared.

When Getz jumped out of the darkness, Creazzo was with two firemen and her daughters at the end of her driveway. She didn't have much time to react.

"The one thing that went through my mind was to protect my family," she said. "When I returned fire, he ducked for cover. I'd say more than anything, I was lucky."

"They're still shaky," she said. "To this day I'm a little queasy about it. It's hard to get over shooting an individual."

Man meant harm only to himself, family says

Texan jailed on charges that he burned car, waved guns at occupied home

By Lynn Bartels, News Staff Writer

A 21-year-old Dallas man distraught over a breakup with his girlfriend brought two guns to her house because he intended to kill himself if she rejected him, the man's family said.

Susie Moreland said her grandson, Justin Goetz, never intended to hurt Jaquie Creazzo, one of Colorado's best known good Samaritans, or Creazzo's 19-year-old daughter, Hannah Creazzo, Goetz's former fiance.

"He did not go up there to harm anybody but himself," Moreland said Monday, just minutes after she talked long-distance with her grandson at Jefferson County Jail.

"He was trying to talk to Hannah."

Jaquie Creazzo told Jefferson County deputies a different story. She said someone torched a 1978 Ford Mustang parked in her driveway in the 14000 block of Foothill Road early Sunday, and then a gunman approached her house.

"I saw the weapons in his hands and he started to fire," she said.

Creazzo -- who is paralyzed from the chest down after being shot in 1994 while trying to rescue a woman who had been abducted and raped -- fired back.

Only Goetz was hurt. He was shot twice in the leg.

He is scheduled to make an initial appearance today in Jefferson County District Court. He faces charges of attempted murder and arson.

Moreland said her grandson admitted setting the fire, but insisted he wasn't trying to hurt anyone but himself.

"He brought a whole lot of pills with him and the guns. If she didn't want to resume the relationship he planned to kill himself," Moreland said.

Goetz's mother, La Donna Adams of Dallas, said Jacqui Creazzo called her Sunday and said the young man "needed a lot of support."

"Jaquie told me he was begging the police to shoot him," Adams said. "It's very sad. I wish we had known how desperate he was."

Jaquie Creazzo said her daughter didn't want to discuss the relationship.

Adams said her son talked of suicide about a month ago over his relationship with Creazzo.

Mother and grandmother said Goetz is a diabetic who often has mood swings when his blood-sugar level is low. They also said they suspect Goetz is manic-depressive and he has talked about getting help.

Goetz and Hannah Creazzo, who both lived in Dallas, met about two years ago, his family said. At one point, when Creazzo was a high school senior, Moreland said, they lived together at her Carrollton, Texas, home.

"They were engaged but things kind of went sour," Moreland said. "I love Hannah, but they were just too young. Justin cared so much about her. He kept her car running and paid her car insurance."

The couple broke up several times, his family said.

Moreland said Hannah Creazzo's car recently had been vandalized, so Jaquie Creazzo drove to Texas with a trailer, picked up her daughter and the car and took them to Jefferson County.

That was about three weeks ago, Moreland said, and her grandson grew increasingly distressed over his breakup with Hannah Creazzo. The family didn't know Goetz had left for Colorado until Saturday.

"Hannah called my mother and said, 'Justin's here, and he's upset and I don't know what to do,' " Adams said. "They called the police and (sheriff's deputies) went to the house. Justin got back the engagement ring and the cell phone."

Adams said when she talked to her son that afternoon he seemed stunned to learn that his former fiancee had called his grandmother. Adams said he apparently hadn't thought Hannah Creazzo was home when he retreived his belongs, and he seemed upset at not being able to see her.

"I said, 'Are you OK? Is this over? Are you finished?' " Adams said. "He said, 'I'm coming home.' Then he called back a little bit later and wanted to know what time Hannah called (the grandmother).

"Unfortunately I'm the one who let him know Hannah was there."

Contact Lynn Bartels at (303) 892-5327 or bartels@RockyMountainNews.com.

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