Roll of Honor
Incident
Undersheriff Zach Allen was shot and killed in a case of mistaken identity.
He and a Del Norte police officer had arrested two horse thieves and placed them in the county jail. They received word that friends of the men were going to try to break them out overnight.
The Del Norte officer was tasked with guarding the jail and the two agreed that Undersheriff Allen were to give a signal when he returned. At approximately 2:00 am Undersheriff Allen returned to the jail and was challenged by the Del Norte officer. Undersheriff Allen failed to give the agreed upon signal and was shot by the officer, who didn't realize it was the undersheriff.
Undersheriff Allen acknowledged on his deathbed that he should have given the signal.
Undersheriff Allen had previously served as the sheriff of both Huerfano County and Pueblo County.
Survivors
He was survived by his wife and four children.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-CO-DC786D02- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- April 2, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
151 years is a long time for a name to go unread. Not today.
Undersheriff Allen served with the Rio Grande County Sheriff's Office.
Thank you for your service to the Del Norte community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Undersheriff Zach Allen is one of 10,088 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 31% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In CO, 101 of 360 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 28.1% of this state's fallen. That is 2.9 percentage points below the national rate of 31%.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Zach Allen's cause is highlighted.
How Zach Allen Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. Zach Allen is highlighted in Aug.