Sheriff gave dire public warning after being forced to release 'very dangerous' inmate. Turns out his warning was warranted.

Steve Reams, sheriff for Weld County in Colorado, posted a chilling warning on Facebook earlier this month.

Reams revealed that an inmate who "is a potential danger to the community" was being released.

'God help this State.'

The sheriff's Facebook post included a mugshot of 21-year-old Ephraim Debisa (aka Debisa Ephraim) along with video allegedly showing the suspect repeatedly pounding the heads of fight victims even after they were unconscious.

In the first part of the clip, a male appears to get knocked out and is lying on a sidewalk when another male begins repeatedly punching the victim in the face; the second part shows a one-on-one street fight during which a male sucker-punches another male, the punched male falls to the street, and the male who walloped him repeatedly punches the face of the motionless victim.

Reams said Greeley Police arrested Debisa on April 5 on charges of suspicion of attempted murder, first-degree assault causing serious bodily injury, and engaging in a riot. Reams said Greeley Police on April 23 issued another arrest for a separate case regarding Debisa while he was still incarcerated in the Weld County jail.

Nevertheless, the sheriff noted in his Sept. 8 Facebook post that Debisa "will be released from the Weld County jail today per Colorado statute. Competency was raised in two of his criminal cases, and the courts found in July of this year his competency could not be restored, and therefore he would not be able to stand trial."

Reams added, "The state legislature and the Governor have continued to weaken the criminal justice system by handcuffing law enforcement, prosecutors and judges for the sake of criminals. Colorado HB24-1034 has created a crisis where very dangerous individuals are being released to the street to reoffend over and over; this is the latest example. I pray this individual doesn't hurt another innocent victim, but the public deserves to know of his past violent actions so they can protect themselves accordingly. God help this State."

Democrat Gov. Jared Polis signed House Bill 24-1034 into law last year, KCNC-TV reported, which says in part that those deemed incompetent to stand trial in the last five years should be given mental health treatment if possible.

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But Sheriff Reams told the station that the law allows those who don't qualify for the mental health program to be released without further attention. Indeed, the Weld County District Attorney's Office told KCNC it had to drop its case against Debisa since mental health evaluators did not believe they could restore his competency within a reasonable, foreseeable future, which the law requires.

"With that ruling, we are forced to release that individual," Reams told the station.

The sheriff added to KCNC that prosecutors tried to extend Debisa's jail stay through legal channels while trying to find ways to prosecute him further or get him into a mental health facility. But those efforts were exhausted, and the inmate was legally required to be released, the station said.

"He is a very dangerous person, and his actions, from what we can tell, were unprovoked," Reams added to KCNC.

Reams added to the station that he would have considered getting federal agencies involved to consider deportation since Debisa is a refugee from Tanzania — except technically he was never acquitted or found guilty of the charges against him; Debisa only was found incompetent to stand trial. Therefore he also couldn't be prosecuted for deportation, KCNC said.

A warranted warning

As you might already be guessing, it turns out that Sheriff Reams' dire warning to the public earlier this month was warranted.

Police in Greeley just arrested Debisa after University of Northern Colorado officials said he was spotted on campus with a gun, KCNC reported in a follow-up story.

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Indeed, the Weld County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday, "Today, Ephraim Debisa, 21, was arrested again by the Greeley Police Dept. with the help of the Weld County Sheriff’s Office STRIKE team."

The sheriff's office said Debisa was arrested on a warrant from the UNC police on a pair of felony charges: unlawful possession of a weapon on school grounds and trespass of an inhabited dwelling.

Sheriff Reams reacted to Debisa's new arrest by saying exactly what you might expect: "I knew this would happen. I am glad no one was hurt."

The sheriff's office added that jail staff couldn't produce a new mugshot for Debisa "due to his uncooperative behavior." Debisa in a virtual interview from jail said he's being politically targeted.

More from KCNC's follow-up story:

CBS News Colorado's report about Debisa's release was shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, by Elon Musk. It was also shared as one of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's final tweets before he was assassinated the next day. Musk and Kirk both echoed the sentiments Reams had in the CBS News Colorado report, demanding laws be changed to not allow people facing serious charges to be released in such a way as HB24-1034 allowed.

Gov. Jared Polis responded to Musk's share of the report, claiming Debisa's release was "absolutely unacceptable." Polis tweeted out, calling on authorities to "Remove this threat now." However, both Reams and Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke said they followed the law that Polis signed, citing the law as the reason they weren't able to retain Debisa in jail.

Lori Gimelshteyn of the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network knows about this issue all too well. Her group launched a petition calling for Polis and the state legislature to convene an emergency special session to amend or repeal competency laws "before more lives are impacted."

Gimelshteyn told Blaze News that "these laws have created a revolving door for violent offenders, putting communities at risk and denying justice to victims and their families."

One prominent related case in Colorado concerns Solomon Galligan, a transgender sex offender accused of trying to kidnap a boy at an elementary school. As it turns out, Galligan recently was declared incompetent to stand trial, and his charges were dropped.

RELATED: Transgender sex offender accused of trying to kidnap boy at elementary school gets good news from DA

Solomon Galligan. Image source: Aurora (Colo.) Police Department

Gimelshteyn told Blaze News the Galligan case "is just one of many where the system has failed" — and that she hopes the new Debisa case "will prompt even more [petition] signatures, as it highlights just how serious the consequences of the current competency laws are."

Sheriff Reams told KCNC that both cases "are very giant highlights to the mistake that was made. It needs to be corrected. Someone is going to get hurt, and someone is gonna get hurt bad."

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