Third Fort Carson soldier arrested in Sin City homicide

Police arrested a third Fort Carson soldier Saturday in the March 3 killing at the Sin City Disciples motorcycle club. Pvt. Eric Bartholomew, 22, of Colorado Springs, was held without bail on investigation of first degree murder, El Paso County jail records show. He is assigned to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson said Saturday. Sgt. Christopher Mountjoy and Sgt. John Burrell, also Fort Carson soldiers, were already in custody on charges tied to the death of 31-year-old Virgil Means. Means and a friend were escaping from an early morning brawl March 3 outside the clubhouse at 628 Vermijo St. Shooters fired at Means and his friend as they drove away, police said. Means was hit and died just before 6 a.m. at Penrose Hospital, police said. On March 16 Mountjoy, of the post’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, was arrested on suspicion of first degree murder. Burrell, was cuffed on March 21. Burrell is assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, of the 4th Brigade Combat Team. The 4th Brigade Combat Team began deploying to eastern Afghanistan in mid-February. It is not known if Burrell was scheduled for deployment. Burrell, who worked as a bouncer at the club, was also arrested in October on suspicion of robbery, kidnapping, sexual assault and menacing, according to court documents. The October case remains open. The arrest warrants for both Mountjoy and Burrell have been sealed, and further details of the March 3 brawl have not been disclosed. Police say they are looking for others tied to the crime. Police were banned from discussing the case by a 4th Judicial District gag order. Little is known about the mysterious motorcycle club, which historically counts itself among the “one percent” — a classification of outlaw motorcycle gangs that includes the infamous Hells Angels and the Sons of Silence, a gang that was started in Colorado in the 1960s. Krista Strowd, who previously served in the Army under Sgt. Mountjoy, was shocked to hear of his arrest. She remembered him as a professional, dedicated leader. “He had great work ethics and was always such a big help if we, the junior enlisted, needed him,” she wrote in a Facebook message to The Gazette late last month. She remembered that Mountjoy liked to go on rides with some buddies after work, but she had never heard of the Sin City Disciples club. “I think anyone would be surprised when someone that was in your vicinity would be charged with murder,” she wrote.  “He seemed normal!”

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