A 33-year-old man wanted on charges including attempted murder and kidnapping was found hiding under an air mattress inside a Colorado Springs home Wednesday, after a police dog succeeded where an initial room-by-room search had failed. Brandon Pierce was taken into custody following an operation that began with detectives spotting him returning a rented van at a local Home Depot and ended with a K-9 unit locating him in a residence on the 4100 block of Cougar Place.
According to KKTV, Pierce was wanted on charges of attempted murder, second-degree assault, third-degree assault, kidnapping, victim/witness intimidation, and violation of a protection order. The Violent Offender Fugitive Task Force had resumed working on his apprehension when detectives observed him getting into the passenger seat of an associate's vehicle. Task force agents then conducted lengthy surveillance on that vehicle as it traveled to various locations around Colorado Springs and performed what police described as burn moves, evasive driving tactics often used to detect surveillance.
The vehicle eventually pulled into the Cougar Place residence, then left again without Pierce still inside, according to the station's report. Detectives set up containment around the home and contacted a known occupant, who gave police consent to search the property. Officers also obtained a warrant to search the home before entering.
A Basement Search That Almost Came Up Empty
Getting Pierce out of the house took more than one attempt. Officers gave multiple K-9 warnings and announcements for him to surrender, and per AM 740 KVOR, an initial sweep of the residence turned up nothing at all. Pierce was only located after a canine unit was brought in to conduct a second search of the home.
Fox21 News reported that a drone was used to clear the basement before K-9 Officer Comstock deployed K-9 Milo into the home, per the outlet's account of the operation. Agents and the dog then entered the residence together, and Milo found Pierce hiding under an air mattress. Colorado Springs police said Pierce was taken to a hospital for treatment related to the K-9 before being booked into the El Paso County jail.
The Dog Behind the Find
K-9 Milo is a dual-purpose Colorado Springs Police Department dog trained in both narcotics detection and suspect apprehension, and he had logged more than 300 operational deployments before locating Pierce, according to Colorado Springs Police Department background on the dog. The find fits a broader pattern for the region's fugitive units. Multi-agency operations in El Paso County have repeatedly shown the CSPD Violent Offender Fugitive Task Force working alongside local SWAT and federal marshals to surround and pull barricaded or hidden felony suspects out of residential neighborhoods, according to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office.
The scale of that regional effort is considerable. The U.S. Marshals Service's Colorado Violent Offender Task Force, which works with local fugitive units in El Paso County, apprehended nearly 500 wanted violent fugitives across the state during 2025, per the U.S. Marshals Service. Hoodline previously covered a similar case in July, when a Colorado Springs robbery suspect was zapped and nabbed after a foot chase in Aurora, another operation involving the same task force.
What Pierce Could Be Facing in Court
The charges against Pierce carry substantial prison exposure under Colorado law. Attempted first-degree murder is a Class 2 felony with a presumptive sentence of eight to 24 years, which can stretch to 48 years under aggravating circumstances or crime-of-violence enhancements, according to legal guidance published by Right Law Group. Kidnapping is classified as a Class 1 felony punishable by life in prison if the victim suffered bodily injury, or a Class 2 felony carrying eight to 24 years if the victim was liberated unharmed, per an explanation from FindLaw.
The intimidation and assault charges add further exposure. Victim or witness intimidation is a Class 4 felony carrying two to six years and fines up to $500,000, rising to a Class 3 felony punishable by up to 12 years if a deadly weapon was used or threatened, according to the Colorado Legal Defense Group. Second-degree assault is a Class 4 felony carrying two to six years, but can reach an aggravated range of five to 16 years if committed with a deadly weapon or charged as a crime of violence, per Flatiron Legal Advisors. A protection order violation is typically a misdemeanor, but Colorado law requires that any jail time for that charge run consecutively to sentences on the other counts, according to the Sawyer Legal Group.
What triggered the original arrest warrants against Pierce, including the specific incident behind the kidnapping and attempted murder charges, has not been detailed in available reports. It also remains unclear whether the associate who drove Pierce to the Cougar Place home, and later left without him, will face any charges related to the fugitive's evasion of police.
