Colorado's Head Of State Prison System Shot And Killed Hours Before Gun Control Laws Were To Be Signed Off On

The head of the Colorado state's prison system was shot and killed hours before he was supposed to sign a package of gun control laws.

Police told Reuters that Tom Clements, 58, appointed two years ago as executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, was shot on Tuesday night at his home in a secluded wooded area near the picturesque town of Monument, Col. 45 miles south of Denver.

Clements' home sits on a street that is "not a major thoroughfare," Kramer said. "There's no reason to turn off onto that road unless you had business there," El Paso County Sheriff's Department Lieutenant Jeff Kramer told Reuters.

Kramer said the killing did not appear to be linked to any break-in or robbery attempt, but told Reuters "We don't know if the shooting was random."

Police are searching for the killer, who allegedly shot the head of Colorado's state prison system after he answered to the sound of his doorbell. Authorities said no suspects have been named.

Clements spent 31 years at the Missouri Department of Correction before becoming the head of the Colorado's state prison system.

"He helped define what a public servant is. He did his job quietly, intently, he cared deeply about his staff, his family, his community," Governor John Hickenlooper said about Clements at a news conference.

As previously scheduled on Wednesday morning, Hickenlooper signed legislation to extend background checks on gun buyers -- paid for by applicants -- to private firearms sales and to limit the size of ammunition magazines that may be sold in the state, Reuters reported.

The argument over gun control continues to become an important issue. Last Summer, 12 were shot and killed during the midnight playing of "The Dark Knight Rises" and the massacre at the Newtown, Conn. elementary school in December. In 1999, 13 were killed in Colorado at Columbine High School.

TJ Lane was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday after he shot and killed three Ohio high school students a year ago.