A 37-year-old man accused of attacking a Kittredge tenant with a hatchet in November 2024 has pleaded guilty to second-degree assault under a plea deal that dropped an attempted first-degree murder charge, according to court records. Bradley Lindsey is set to be sentenced on October 23, 2026, for an assault that unfolded in the basement of a home along Bear Creek Canyon after a homeowner let him inside.
The case, first reported by The Denver Post, traces back to the evening of November 6, 2024, when Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies were sent to a home in the 3400 block of Burnham Drive in Kittredge after a 911 call. Deputies arrived to find Lindsey covered in blood, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, which booked him on suspicion of attempted first-degree homicide.
How the Attack Unfolded Inside a Kittredge Home
According to court records cited by the Post, the homeowner had let Lindsey into the house after he knocked on the door. Lindsey then told the homeowner he planned to go downstairs and take care of the victim, a 61-year-old man who was renting a room in the home and was in the process of being evicted for not paying rent, per the same account. The homeowner did not hear any disturbance after Lindsey went down to the basement, the Post reports.
The 61-year-old victim later told deputies that Lindsey choked him until he passed out and hit him in the head with a hatchet four to five times, according to an arrest affidavit. The victim said he knew Lindsey lived nearby but did not know him personally, per the affidavit. A 911 caller also reported that Lindsey said, “If you hear gunshots, call the cops,” before entering a nearby home, according to the affidavit.
Deputies Held Suspect at Gunpoint on Basement Stairs
Once inside, deputies descended into the basement and ordered Lindsey up the stairs at gunpoint after he admitted weapons were in the room, including a BB gun, a knife, and the hatchet used in the assault, according to an arrest affidavit reported by 9News. The same affidavit noted that Lindsey had scratches across his back and a healing scab on his forehead when he was taken into custody, and he told deputies he had been struck by a car two days before the incident.
The homeowner who let Lindsey inside was identified by the sheriff's office as 74-year-old David Dick. Court records reviewed by the Post show the plea deal dropped not only the attempted first-degree murder charge but also a first-degree assault charge and a second-degree assault-strangulation charge, leaving Lindsey to plead guilty solely to second-degree assault.
What the Plea Deal Means for Sentencing
The reduction is significant. Under Colorado law, attempted first-degree murder is a Class 2 felony carrying a standard prison range of 8 to 24 years, rising to 16 to 48 years when charged as a crime of violence involving a deadly weapon, according to the Colorado Legal Defense Group. Second-degree assault involving a deadly weapon or serious bodily injury, by contrast, is a Class 4 felony and crime of violence carrying a mandatory prison sentence of 5 to 16 years, with judges barred from granting probation, per the same legal group's analysis of Colorado Revised Statutes § 18-3-203.
Prosecutions in the case fall under the First Judicial District Attorney's Office, led by District Attorney Alexis King, who was elected in 2020 as the first Democratic woman DA in the district's history, according to Law Week Colorado. That office covers both Jefferson and Gilpin counties. Lindsey's sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 23.
A Quiet Mountain Community Confronts a Violent Night
Kittredge is an unincorporated mountain community along Bear Creek Canyon at an elevation of 7,073 feet, with a population of 1,308 recorded in the 2020 U.S. Census, according to background compiled on Wikipedia. Census Bureau data show the community's median age at 57.2 years, well above the 37.3-year median for the broader Denver-Aurora-Centennial metro area, per Census Reporter. Because Kittredge is unincorporated, it relies directly on the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office for law enforcement rather than a municipal police department, per county officials.
Open questions remain about what drove Lindsey to the basement that night, and whether any mental health or substance use evaluations factored into the plea negotiations. Those details have not been disclosed in court records reviewed so far. For now, the case moves toward its next milestone next month, when a judge will decide how much of that 5-to-16-year range Lindsey will actually serve.
