Colorado man mistakenly released from prison, charged with attempted murder weeks after

A Colorado man who was serving a prison sentence on multiple felony convictions has been charged with attempted murder after he tried to shoot his neighbor in the face.

After being released from prison via a parole error, Mikaele Poloa went on a crime spree that eventually led to him being charged with attempted murder, among other felony charges. On April 18, Poloa, who was having a party in an apartment in Colorado Springs with two friends, entered into an altercation with a neighbor who had been banging on the wall in an attempt to get Poloa and his friends to quiet down. 

Poloa knocked on his neighbor’s door, and when 20 year old Andrew Herrerra answered, Poloa aimed at his face with a sawed off shotgun and fired. He missed and hit the door frame instead. Poloa then fled the scene and has not been found since.

Authorities are still on the hunt for Poloa, who now has warrants out for his arrest on charges of attempted murder, being a previous offender in possession of a firearm, and a slew of other felony charges still pending from before Poloa’s release.

The Colorado Department of Corrections says Poloa never should have been released. “Public safety is our top priority, and this is unacceptable, which is why his case is a priority for our fugitive apprehension unit,” said a spokesperson for the corrections department in a statement. “Due to a failure of the division to file the parole complaint in the allotted time frames, the parole hold had to be lifted.”

The spokesperson continued, “It is our department’s practice to place holds and file parole complaints on those individuals who have violent charges pending,” said Skinner, the corrections department spokesperson. “As such, they typically remain in custody pending disposition. Because time frames were missed in this case, he was issued a parole summons, which then allowed his release once he bonded on his charges.”