A few days later, Mason shot at a Utah state employee from a mile away. The men fled across the Colorado-Utah border, shooting and injuring two Montezuma County Sheriff’s deputies in the process. Before Claxton could even get out of the vehicle, one of the men stepped out of their vehicle and shot the officer 29 times, according to an article from 2007 by Deseret News. Jason McVean, 26, Alan “Monte” Pilon, 30, and Robert Mason, 26, stole a water truck from Ignacio and were later stopped in Cortez by officer Dale Claxton.
A sign marking the spot on the County Road 27 bridge where patrol officer Dale Claxton was killed on May 29, 1998.
