Allgier says he didn't mean to shoot, kill

The heavily tattooed white supremacist accused of killing a corrections officer during an escape attempt Monday told reporters Wednesday he did not intend to shoot or kill the 60-year-old officer.

Curtis Allgier, 27, said the gun he wrested from officer Stephen Anderson accidentally fired when the inmate hit Anderson in the head with the weapon while the two fought.

"I did not want to shoot that officer," the white pride member told KUTV and KSL-TV reporters. "In no way, shape or form did I want to shoot him."

The interviews took place in the Salt Lake County Jail, where Allgier is now being held without bail for investigation of aggravated murder, carjacking, escape, attempted homicide, aggravated assault by a prisoner, theft of a firearm, fleeing, causing property damage and a weapons violation.

Allgier did not consent to the Deseret Morning News' request for an interview. And by Wednesday afternoon, officials at the jail said a judge had placed a gag order on media interviews with the felon.

The long-time criminal described Monday's incident by saying he was not handcuffed during an MRI procedure and thought he had nothing to lose by trying to escape from University Hospital's Orthopaedic Center, where he was being treated for back pain.

"I just got sentenced to 104 months in the feds," Allgier recounted. "I lost my lady; I lost everything I already had, so I didn't have nothing to care about anymore."

During the attempted escape, Allgier said he told the officer "not to be a hero" several times, but Anderson wouldn't let go of one of the inmate's arms and a struggle ensued.

"I said, 'Look, I'm going out that door and you're not stopping me,"' Allgier said, before insisting, "I never pulled that trigger during that whole episode....I did not shoot that officer. I did not pull that trigger."

The prisoner also told reporters in a taped interview he had not wanted to hurt anyone in the Redwood Road Arby's restaurant he entered while trying to evade police.

He told ABC4 News reporters that he did not pull the trigger when a single shot misfired inside the restaurant.

"My gun jammed and I threw it," he said. "I didn't need it no more."

An Arby's employee tried to fire the weapon, he said.

After allegedly shooting and killing Anderson, Allgier carjacked a vehicle at the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Wakara Way, according to police. The fugitive led police on a wild high-speed chase that ended at the Arby's restaurant, then fought with employees and customers inside the restaurant before he was eventually found by police in a back office of the restaurant and arrested.