Sally and Simon Glass will open the doors of Creative Grounds on Wednesday, September 16, a nonprofit youth art space and café built inside a former diner bar in Lyons, Colorado. The project follows three years of fighting for justice by the couple, who turned their grief over the 2022 killing of their 22-year-old son, Christian Glass, into a permanent gathering place for young people.
The center's exterior walls now feature three large, kaleidoscopic lion murals painted by artist Android Jones, according to The Colorado Sun. The murals were inspired by a pastel drawing Christian Glass once made of two lions nuzzling, giving the space a direct visual link to the young man it memorializes. Christian Glass's own artwork is displayed throughout the building, and his family hopes the new community space will give teens and young adults a safe place to connect, create and spend time together.
A bronze statue depicting Christian Glass sitting on a rock will stand at the entrance of Creative Grounds — a detail with its own complicated history. The statue was originally slated for installation in Silver Plume, the town where the shooting occurred, under terms of a legal settlement, but the Sun's report notes it will instead be placed in Lyons, the site the family ultimately chose for their son's memorial.
A Café by Morning, a Teen Refuge by Afternoon
Creative Grounds is designed to serve two distinct communities under one roof. The same report describes how the space will operate as a public café in the morning before converting at 2:30 p.m. daily into a dedicated community space exclusively for teens and young adults ages 14 to 22. The model reflects the Glass family's stated goal of giving local youth a consistent, safe environment to gather.
The Killing That Preceded the Settlement
Christian Glass, who held triple citizenship in the United States, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, was fatally shot by law enforcement on June 10, 2022, after he called 911 seeking roadside help when his vehicle became stuck near Silver Plume, per the Associated Press. In May 2023, four Colorado public entities agreed to a $19 million settlement with the Glass family, according to CBS News — the largest police misconduct payout in Colorado history. The settlement broke down as $10 million from Clear Creek County, $5 million from Georgetown, $3 million from the state's risk management office, and $1 million from Idaho Springs, that report states.
Convictions and Consequences for Officers Involved
The criminal case against those involved in Glass's death concluded over the past two years. Former Clear Creek County Sheriff's Deputy Andrew Buen was convicted in February 2025 of criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment, and he received a three-year prison sentence that April, the Associated Press reported. Former Sheriff's Sergeant Kyle Gould, who monitored the confrontation remotely via live body camera video and had granted permission to force Glass from his car, pleaded guilty in November 2023 to failure to intervene and received two years of probation, according to KUNC.
In May, charges against responding officers were dropped, and a training video was required. The video requirement added a training component to the case.
A Rural Gap That Preceded the Tragedy
The 2022 shooting prompted broader discussion of co-responder programs and rural emergency response, The Colorado Sun reported at the time. That broader conversation has remained part of the case, while the Glass family pursued a memorial in Lyons instead. For Sally and Simon Glass, the Lyons space now stands as the lasting answer to a loss that began with a roadside call for help.
