EDGEWATER, Colo. (KDVR) — Edgewater Police Chief Eric Sonstegard responded to calls for his resignation by the family of a homicide victim, saying he’s not going anywhere.

After seven months of investigating, Jeremy Smith was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder and manslaughter in the shooting of 33-year-old Adam Fresquez at a Tesla charging station in May, supposedly during a road rage confrontation.

The victim’s family is calling this a “botched” investigation, and after the suspect’s court hearing, they called for Sonstegard and multiple other officers to resign. The chief said he won’t resign, saying the criticism just isn’t fair and it was a clean investigation.

“I couldn’t begin to understand the toll that has taken on their family, and I empathize,” Sonstegard said. “I’m fairly confident that if this was a ‘botched’ investigation, the DA (district attorney) would point that out to us and direct us down that path. I haven’t seen anything to even remotely suggest that, and again, I believe a lot of these comments come from the emotional trauma attached to the loss of Adam.”

The chief said he told the family this was a very challenging case, and early on, said he felt charges would not be filed.

“In hindsight, perhaps I let my guard down, and I should not have said that. But again, that was coming from a point of compassion for parents who were grieving the loss of their son,” Sonstegard said.

Police chief acknowledges mistake

The family also claims they were misled about how Fresquez died.

“I had to find out that my son was shot in the back by an autopsy,” his mother, Lena Fresquez Mendez, said. “They didn’t even have the decency to call me and tell me.”

The chief said that was an honest mistake, seeing bullet exit wounds as entry wounds while he was on the scene of Fresquez’s killing.

“I mistakenly presumed that those were wounds where he was shot when asked by Adam’s family where he was shot and how it happened. It wasn’t until we received the autopsy result that it was determined those were exit wounds,” Sonstegard said.

“I’m confident that once more facts come out about this case, they will understand the legal complexities into what happened,” the chief said.

The family wanted a $1 million bond for the suspect Wednesday, but the judge set Smith’s bond at $300,000 cash-only.