The perpetrator, 19-year-old Nathan Dunlap, a former employee of the restaurant, was frustrated about being fired five months prior to the shooting and sought revenge by committing the attack.
[3] Nathan Dunlap entered the restaurant at 9:00 p.m., where he ordered a ham and cheese sandwich and played an arcade game.
As he was taking the cash out of the safe, Dunlap fired a second fatal shot through Kohlberg's other ear after he noticed she was still moving.
[9] Dunlap fled the scene with $1,500 worth of cash and game tokens he stole from inside the restaurant.
[11] In 2008, Dunlap filed a habeas corpus petition with the federal district court, arguing that his trial attorney was ineffective by not presenting a defense on his mental health issues and child abuse.
Senior U.S. District Judge John L. Kane wrote that Dunlap was fairly tried, competently represented, and justifiably sentenced to death.
According to Hickenlooper, one of the reasons that he did not choose full clemency was because Dunlap would have to remain segregated from the rest of the prison population.
Groups, including the NAACP, contacted Hickenlooper requesting the sparing of Dunlap's life, arguing that the death penalty is disproportionately imposed on African Americans and Hispanics.
Polis also commuted the sentences for all three men on death row, including Dunlap, to life without parole.
Dunlap's mother struggled with mental health issues and was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
When Dunlap was 14, his adoptive father asked the psychologist at Overland High School to evaluate him, and testing revealed signs of hypomania.
He spent time incarcerated at a juvenile detention center, and due to an erratic episode, he was sent to a psychiatric hospital.
Dunlap began working at the restaurant in May 1993 and was fired in July after a disagreement he had with his supervisor over schedule hours.