Colorado Dept. of Corrections / AP

Police said Thomas Guolee's name surfaced during an investigation into the death of Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements.

DENVER -- Two more men connected to a violent white supremacist gang are being sought in connection with the slaying of Colorado's prisons chief, and authorities are warning officers that they are armed and dangerous.

The search comes about two weeks after prison gang member Evan Ebel — a suspect in the death of Department of Corrections chief Tom Clements on March 19 and of Nathan Leon, a pizza deliveryman, two days earlier — was killed in a shootout with Texas deputies.

While it's not clear whether the gang, the 211 Crew, is linked to the killing, the warning bulletin issued late Wednesday by the El Paso County Sheriff's Department is the first official word that other gang members may be involved.

James Lohr, 47, and Thomas Guolee, 31, aren't being called suspects in Clements' death, but their names have surfaced during the investigation, El Paso County sheriff's Lt. Jeff Kramer said. He wouldn't elaborate.

Kramer said the two are known associates of the 211 gang.

Ebel is the only suspect that investigators have named in Clements' death, but they haven't given a motive. They have said they're looking into his connection to the gang he joined while in prison, and whether that was connected to the attack.

Colo. Dept. Of Corrections / AP, file

Evan Spencer Ebel led Texas authorities on a 100 mph car chase that ended in a shootout on March 21. He has been linked to the slaying of Colorado's state prison chief.

"Investigators are looking at a lot of different possibilities. We are not stepping out and saying it's a hit or it's not a hit. We're looking at all possible motives," Kramer said Wednesday.

Investigators have said the gun Ebel used in the Texas shootout was also used to kill Clements when the prisons chief answered the front door of his home.

Sheriff's investigators said they don't know the whereabouts of Lohr and Guolee or if they are together, but Kramer said it's possible one or both of them could be headed to Nevada or Texas.

Both are wanted on warrants unrelated to Clements' death, and authorities believe they are armed and dangerous.

Guolee is a parolee who served time for intimidating a witness and giving a pawnbroker false information, among other charges, court records show. Lohr was being sought on warrants out of Las Animas County for a bail violation and a violation of a protection order, according to court records.

The 211 gang is one of the most vicious white supremacist groups operating in U.S. prisons, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups. It was founded in 1995 to protect white prisoners from attacks and operates only in Colorado, according to the center.

Ebel joined the 211 Crew after he entered prison in 2005 for a string of assault and menacing charges that combined for an eight-year sentence. He was supposed to spend an extra four years in prison for punching a prison officer in the face in 2006, but a clerical error led that sentence to be recorded as one to be served simultaneously with his previous sentences.

He was released on parole Jan. 28.

Related:

Clerical error set Colo. slaying suspect free

Link suggested between prosecutor's slaying and racist gang

Gun linked to Colo. slaying leads to woman's arrest

DENVER - An intruder who forced his way into the mountain home of a Colorado deputy district attorney was shot dead by either the prosecutor or her police officer husband, authorities said on Tuesday.

The shooting, shortly before midnight Monday, comes two weeks after Colorado's prisons director was slain as he answered the front door to his home, and two days after the district attorney of Kaufman County in Texas was found shot to death with his wife.

An assistant prosecutor in the Kaufman County district attorney's office was shot to death on January 31, and authorities have said both Texas murders and the March 19 slaying of Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements appeared to be targeted killings rather than random acts of violence.

In light of the three previous cases, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation is leading the probe into the latest shooting, which occurred in Hot Sulphur Springs, about 95 miles northwest of Denver.

"There are no apparent ties to recent shootings; however, investigators continue to pursue all possible leads and background information on this (dead) person," the bureau said in a written statement.

Authorities did not immediately release the names of the deputy prosecutor and her husband in connection with Monday night's shooting.

The deputy district attorney made a 911 emergency call and reported that a man was at her door "behaving very erratically," police said.

The prosecutor then told dispatchers that the stranger forced his way into her home. An altercation ensued inside and shots were fired, leaving the unidentified man dead, police said.

A spokeswoman for one of the agencies investigating the incident told Reuters that the prosecutor and her husband, himself a sheriff's deputy, both fired at the intruder, but it is too early in the probe to know who fired the fatal shot.

The Colorado prosecutor and her husband both suffered minor injuries and have been placed on paid leave pending the results of the investigation.

Related: For prosecutors across country, threat of violence 'comes with the job'

Clements, the state's prisons chief, was shot to death on March 19 when he answered the front door of his home near Monument, Colorado, about 45 miles south of Denver.

Authorities have matched the handgun used in Clements' slaying to the weapon used by a recent Colorado parolee, 28-year-old Evan Spencer Ebel, in a gun battle with police following a high-speed chase through Decatur, Texas, last month.

Investigators have named Ebel, a member of a white supremacist prison gang, as a suspect in the killing of Clements and in the death of pizza delivery man Nathan Leon, 27, who was found dead in suburban Denver two days earlier.

Ebel was killed in the shootout with Texas police. A search of his car turned up a pizza deliverer's shirt, visor, pizza box and heat bag.

Colo. Dept. Of Corrections / AP, file

This undated photo released by the Colorado Department of Corrections shows paroled inmate Evan Spencer Ebel.

A clerical error made by the Colorado court system allowed the man believed to have killed the state's prisons chief to be released almost four years early.

Court officials acknowledged in a statement Monday the error that allowed Evan Spencer Ebel to be released January 28.

In 2008, Ebel pleaded guilty to assaulting a prison guard while serving time for breaking into a car, having an illegal gun and carjacking a man. His four-year sentence was supposed to have been served consecutively after the the eight-year sentence he had been serving.

But a court clerk entered the sentence as concurrent to the one he was serving, which led Ebel's January release.

He is suspected of killing Tom Clements, executive director of the state Department of Corrections, on March 19. Clements was shot dead apparently after answering the doorbell at his home outside Colorado Springs.

Ebel is also suspected in the March 17 killing of a Domino’s pizza delivery man outside Denver. Authorities have speculated that Ebel used the man's uniform to get Clements to come to the door.

A Domino's uniform was found in the car Ebel was driving when he was killed in a shootout with deputies in Texas on March 21.

Colorado Bureau of Investigation via AP

Stevie Marie Vigil, 22, of Commerce City, Colo., was arrested on March 27, accused of illegally transferring the gun authorities say was used to kill Colorado's prison chief.

Police arrested a Colorado woman suspected of illegally transferring a handgun used by a white supremacist and linked to the shooting of Colorado’s top prison official, authorities said.

Stevie Marie Vigil, 22, was arrested on Wednesday, the Colorado Bureau of Investigations said in a statement. Investigators say that she is suspected of illegally transferring the firearm to ex-convict Evan Ebel, 28, after purchasing it from an Englewood, Colo., firearms dealer. 

Investigators worked with the El Paso County Sheriff’s office and the licensed firearms dealer to track down the gun’s purchaser. While Vigil’s purchase of the gun was legal, her transfer of the gun to Ebel was not, investigators said.

The gun was recovered by police after Ebel was killed in a shootout with Texas deputies that followed a car chase near Decatur. The same gun has been linked to the death of Tom Clements, the executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections.

Clements was shot dead on March 19 apparently after answering the doorbell at his home outside Colorado Springs.

“Oftentimes referred to as a ‘straw purchase,’ investigators believe Vigil purchased the firearm from a licensed firearms dealer in Englewood, and allegedly transferred the weapon to Evan Ebel, a convicted felon who could not legally possess a firearm,” the CBI said in the statement. “The licensed firearms dealer has been extremely cooperative with investigators, and had no knowledge of Vigil’s alleged actions following her legal purchase of the gun.”

In court records filed March 22, authorities said that shell casing from the same type of ammunition was used in Clements’ slaying. On Monday, the El Paso County Sheriff’s office said that a review of the casings collected in Texas confirmed that the gun was a match.

“The analysis done by ballistics experts has concluded the gun used by Evan Ebel in Texas was the same weapon used in the shooting death of Tom Clements,” the sheriff’s office said in a written statement.

“The confirmation goes well beyond acknowledging the same caliber and brand of ammunition being used, but rather is based on unique, and often microscopic markings left on the casings at both scenes,” the sheriff’s office said.

Ebel is also suspected in the March 17 killing of a Domino’s pizza delivery man, Nathan Leon, outside Denver.

Police have said that Ebel was connected to the 211 Crew, a white supremacist prison gang that is known for its violent behavior. The gang is thought to have as many as 1,000 members, many in Colorado prisons, according to Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The man “drifted into a dark period” after the death of his teenage sister, Ebel’s mother Jody Mangue wrote in an Internet posting. “His life deteriorated after that and he just became numb and lost his direction altogether,” she wrote.

Arrest records for Vigil are sealed. She was placed in the Arapahoe County Jail on Wednesday and bond was set at $25,000, the CBI said. She could face charges for the unlawful purchase of a firearm.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Reported:

• Mother of Colorado shooting-spree suspect says son was a compassionate kid
• Suspect in Colorado killing had a ‘bad, bad streak’: governor
• Colorado governor knew family of man eyed in prison chief slaying

The mother of the man suspected of gunning down the top prisons official in Colorado says her son was a compassionate child who “drifted into a dark period” after the death of his 16-year-old sister.

Jody Mangue wrote that her son, Evan Ebel, adored animals and walked up to the mentally ill in restaurants to engage them in conversation.

“He was full of energy, was funny and lit up a room,” she wrote in a posting on a website dedicated to the memory of the sister, Marin Ebel, who was killed in a car crash in January 2004.

Ebel, 28, is a suspect in the shooting death of Tom Clements, the head of the Colorado Department of Corrections, who was killed last Tuesday when he opened the front door of his home.

Ebel was killed Thursday after a wild chase and gunfight with sheriff’s deputies in Texas. He is also suspected in the killing of a Domino’s pizza delivery man outside Denver on March 17.

Mangue wrote that her son was already struggling before his sister’s death, but that the loss “threw him over the edge.”

“His life deteriorated after that and he just became numb and lost his direction altogether,” she wrote. In the posting, she thanked friends and strangers who have offered her support since last week.

The Denver Post reported over the weekend that Ebel’s documented decline began in October 2003, when he pointed a gun at the head of an acquaintance and demanded cash.

In the spring of 2004, police told the newspaper, Ebel carjacked a stranger, pointed a gun at a woman and accidentally shot himself in two separate incidents, once in the stomach and once in the leg.

He was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty in the carjacking case and was paroled in January of this year.

Colorado Department of Corrections / Reuters

Evan Spencer Ebel in an undated Colorado booking photo.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a friend of Ebel’s father, told CNN on Sunday that the suspect always “just seemed to have this bad streak, a streak of cruelty and anger.”

Law enforcement officials have said Ebel was involved with a white supremacist prison gang, the 211 Crew, which outside groups say demands that some of its members commit crimes once they leave prison.

Mangue wrote that her son was his own person, not a follower.

Despite having been linked to white supremacists, she wrote, “most white people in prison are automatically put in that category and sometimes forced to say they are even when they are not.”

Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:

Suspect in Colorado killing had a ‘bad, bad streak’

Colorado governor knew family of man eyed in prison chief slaying

This story was originally published on Mon Mar 25, 2013 11:48 AM EDT

Attorney Jack Ebel testified before the Colorado Legislature two years ago that solitary confinement in a Colorado prison was destroying the psyche of his son, Evan. 

When Jack Ebel's longtime friend, Gov. John Hickenlooper, was interviewing a Missouri corrections official for the top prisons job in Colorado, he mentioned the case as an example of why the prison system needed reform. And once Tom Clements came to Colorado, he eased the use of solitary confinement and tried to make it easier for people housed there to re-enter society.

Now authorities are investigating whether Evan Spencer Ebel, who was paroled in January, is linked to the assassination of Clements, who was shot and killed Tuesday night when he answered the front door of his house in a rural neighborhood.

The bullet casings from that shooting are the same type as those found at the site of a bloody gun battle Thursday between Evan Ebel and Texas law enforcement officers that ended with Ebel being shot and killed, according to court records.

The car Ebel drove matched the description of the one spotted outside Clements' house on the night of the prison director's death. Authorities also found a Domino's pizza delivery box in the trunk and a jacket or shirt from the pizza chain. Denver police say Ebel is now a suspect in the Sunday slaying of pizza delivery man Nathan Leon.

Hickenlooper confirmed his relationship with Jack Ebel to The Denver Post and KUSA-TV Friday evening and then in a written statement Friday night. State records show Ebel donated $1,050 to the governor's 2010 campaign. But there's no indication that Hickenlooper's relationship with the Ebels played a role in the shooting.

Hickenlooper denied having any role in Evan Ebel's parole. 

Related: White supremacist eyed in slaying of Colorado prisons chief

"Although Jack loved his son, he never asked me to intervene on his behalf and I never asked for any special treatment for his son," Hickenlooper's written statement said.

State prisons spokeswoman Alison Morgan said Evan Ebel was paroled Jan. 28 as part of a mandatory process after serving his full prison term. He had most recently been sentenced to four years for punching a prison guard in 2008, according to state records.

Hickenlooper said he never mentioned Ebel's name to Clements or anyone else connected with the prisons system. He said he only heard about the role of his friend's son Thursday night.

"I didn't know Evan was out," the governor told The Denver Post and KUSA, adding that he called Jack Ebel after being told of the connection. "He was distraught, he was devastated. I've never heard him so upset, and he's had some hard things in his life."

Lt. Jeff Kramer of the El Paso County sheriff's office said Friday evening that he was unaware of the relationship between Hickenlooper and Ebel's father.

Jack Ebel did not return multiple phone calls seeking comment.

A federal law enforcement official said Ebel was a member of a white supremacist prison gang, the 211s. The official wasn't authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Colorado officials wouldn't confirm Ebel's membership but placed state prisons on lockdown Friday afternoon.

Legal records show Ebel was convicted of several crimes in Colorado dating back to 2003.

Scott Robinson, a criminal defense attorney and media legal analyst, represented Ebel in 2003 and 2004. He said Ebel had been sentenced to a halfway house for a robbery charge in 2003 before he was accused in two additional robbery cases the following year that garnered prison sentences of three and eight years.

Related: Man in Texas car chase, shootout may have ties to Colorado prison chief death

"I thought he was a young man who was redeemable, otherwise I wouldn't have taken the case," Robinson said, saying he didn't recall the details of the case. 

Robinson said he knew Ebel before he got in trouble. He said Ebel had a younger sister who died in a car accident years ago.

Vicky Bankey said Ebel was in his teens when she lived across from him in suburban Denver until his father moved a couple of years ago. She remembers seeing Ebel once jump off the roof of his house. "He was a handful. I'd see him do some pretty crazy things," she said.

"He had a hair-trigger temper as a kid. But his dad was so nice," Bankey said.

Hickenlooper agreed that Evan Ebel had "a bad streak" that his parents had tried to correct.

"The events of the past few days have been devastating for all involved," he said in the written statement. "I am in shock and disbelief about how everything seems connected in this case. It makes no sense. Tom's death at the hands of someone hell-bent on causing evil was tragic in every way. It also now appears Tom's killer may have had another victim. Our hearts and prayers are with Nathan Leon's family as well."

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers P. Solomon Banda, Dan Elliott, Colleen Slevin, Alexandra Tilsley and Catherine Tsai in Denver; Thomas Peipert in Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Angela K. Brown in Decatur, Texas.