Weld County is one of the 64 counties of the U. S. state of Colorado. As of the 2010 census, the population was 252,825; the county seat is Greeley. Weld County comprises the Greeley, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area, included in the Denver–Aurora, CO Combined Statistical Area. On May 30, 1854, the Kansas–Nebraska Act created the Nebraska Territory and the Kansas Territory, divided by the Parallel 40° North. Present-day Weld County, lay in the southwestern portion of the Nebraska Territory, bordering the Kansas Territory. In July 1858, gold was discovered along the South Platte River in Kansas Territory; this discovery precipitated the Pike's Peak Gold Rush. Many residents of the mining region felt disconnected from the remote territorial governments of Kansas and Nebraska, so they voted to form their own Territory of Jefferson on October 24, 1859; the following month, the Jefferson Territorial Legislature organized 12 counties for the new territory, including St. Vrain County. St. Vrain County was named in honor of Ceran de Hault de Lassus de St. Vrain, the French trader who established the first trading post on the upper South Platte River.

St. Vrain County encompassed much of; the Jefferson Territory never received federal sanction, but on February 28, 1861, U. S. President James Buchanan signed an act organizing the Territory of Colorado. On November 1, 1861, the Colorado General Assembly organized 17 counties, including Weld County, for the new Colorado Territory. Weld County was named for a lawyer and territorial secretary, he died. Until February 9, 1887, Weld County's boundaries included the area now comprising Weld County, Washington County, Logan County, Morgan County, Yuma County, Phillips County, Sedgwick County. Weld County was thrust into the media spotlight on the evening of November 1, 1955, when United Airlines Flight 629, a Douglas DC-6B airliner flying from Denver to Portland, exploded in midair and crashed, killing all 44 persons on board the plane and scattering bodies and debris over a six-square-mile area of the county; the subsequent investigation of the accident revealed that Denver resident John Gilbert Graham had secretly placed a time bomb composed of 25 sticks of dynamite in a suitcase belonging to his mother, a passenger on the airplane.

Graham was tried and convicted of the crime, executed in 1957. In northeastern Weld County, Minuteman III missile silo "N-8", one of the many unmanned silos there, was the target of symbolic vandalism by Catholic peace activists in 2002. In 2013, conservative Weld County commissioners began a campaign to secede from the State of Colorado and a state ballot measure regarding the issue was put on the November 2013 ballot; the legality of this initiative has been questioned by local attorneys. On Nov 5th, 2013, 6 out of 11 Colorado counties voted no for secession, including Weld County. Elbert, Logan, Moffat and Weld counties voted no, while Cheyenne, Kit Carson, Phillips and Yuma counties voted yes. "Weld County voters said this is an option we shouldn't pursue and we won't pursue it," said Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway, "But we will continue to look at the problems of the urban and rural divide in this state."Weld County holds the distinction of having more confirmed tornado sightings than any other U.

S. county from 1950-2011, with 252 confirmed reports. On March 6, 2019, the county declared itself to be a Second Amendment sanctuary. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 4,017 square miles, of which 3,987 square miles are land and 30 square miles are water, it is the third-largest county in Colorado by area. Weld County lies within the flat eastern portion of Colorado. Along the western border, hilly areas indicate the presence of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains further west; the county is served by two interstate highways: I-25 runs through the southwestern corner and I-76 from the south central edge northeastward to the Morgan county border. Other major roads include US 85 and US 34, which intersect near Greeley, State Highway 14, which runs through Ault. Pawnee National Grassland Fort Vasquez State History Museum St. Vrain State Park American Discovery Trail Pawnee Pioneer Trails Poudre River National Recreation Trail South Platte Trail As of the census of 2000, there were 180,936 people, 63,247 households, 45,221 families residing in the county.

The population density was 45 people per square mile. There were 66,194 housing units at an average density of 17 per square mile; the racial makeup of the county was 81.71% White, 0.56% Black or African American, 0.87% Native American, 0.83% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 13.29% from other races, 2.65% from two or more races. 27.05 % of the population were Latino of any race. There were 63,247 households out of which 37.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.60% were married couples living together, 9.40% had a female householder with no husband present, 28.50% were non-families. 21.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.90% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.78 and the average family size was 3.25. In the county, the population was spread out with 28.20% under the age of 18, 13.20% from 18 to 24, 29.70% from 25 to 44, 20

The Vandalian Tower at Harting, West Sussex, England, is an 18th century folly, built to commemorate the British colony of Vandalia, a short-lived colony that disappeared with the spread of America. It sits on the summit of Tower Hill. Today the ruin is owned by the descendants of the Fetherstonhaugh family who bought the neighbouring estate of Uppark, now owned by the National Trust, it was listed as a scheduled monument in 1976. The tower was built in 1774, designed by English architect Henry Keene for Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh, to celebrate the founding of the colony of Vandalia; the tower was abandoned out of embarrassment of the failure of Vandalia. In the late 18th century, Emma Hamilton is said to have watched for Lord Nelson's ship arriving from the tower; this lead to it being referred to by locals as “Lady Hamilton’s Folly,” The tower was destroyed by fire in 1842 and the ruins were stabilised in 1982

On the night of February 20, 2016, a series of random shootings took place at an apartment complex, a car dealership, outside a restaurant in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. Six people were killed and two others were injured. Police detained Jason Brian Dalton, in the shootings, he was subsequently charged with murder and criminal firearm use two days after the shootings. After he was found competent to stand trial, Dalton's lawyers planned a legal insanity defense for their client. Disagreeing with the strategies of his lawyers, Dalton pleaded guilty to all charges in a Michigan court on January 7, 2019. Hours before the shootings, Jason Brian Dalton went to three different gun stores with a friend. At one of them, he purchased a black jacket with pockets designed to conceal a handgun. Though the store owner said Dalton was in "good spirits" during the visit, the friend who accompanied Dalton said that he was a "little more quiet than normal" during the trip. Dalton never purchased a firearm there.

Shortly after 4:00 p.m. on February 20, 2016, Matt Mellen requested an Uber pickup to drive him over to a friend's house. He was picked up at 4:21 by Dalton, driving a silver Chevrolet Equinox. During the drive, Dalton received a call, after finishing, he "started driving crazy". At one point, he entered an oncoming lane of traffic, drove through a median strip, ignored a stop sign, sideswiped a Ford Taurus, all the while ignoring Mellen's pleas to stop; when Dalton came to a stop at another stop sign, Mellen jumped out and called 9-1-1. He gave the dispatcher information about Dalton's Equinox, including its license plate number, the dispatcher put out a "Be on the lookout" notification on the vehicle. At 4:34, Dalton returned home and called his wife 41 minutes asking her for the keys to their Hummer H3, they agreed to meet at his parents' residence, located 10 miles away. On the way, Dalton accepted another pickup request at 5:15, from a woman who wanted him to pick up her boyfriend at a Richland Township apartment complex.

The shootings began around 5:42 EST when a woman was shot at a parking lot of the same apartment complex. She survived her injuries. According to the woman, she was confronted by a man in a vehicle with a German Shepherd-type dog sitting in the back; the driver asked her. When she replied that she was not, the man turned his car around and fired at her, she survived by playing dead. Fifteen rounds were fired. Ten shell casings were recovered at the scene of the first shooting. Five children, including the woman's daughter, were present at the scene of the shooting, but they escaped unharmed through her efforts. Investigators believe that Dalton's request for an Uber ride at the apartment complex had become botched; the requester texted Dalton moments after the initial request with a correction of the address, which would have led him to another location in the same area. She attempted to call him to follow up with him on the address correction, but he did not respond. A witness reported seeing an Equinox driving "so aggressively" towards the apartment, at one point cutting him off at a southbound curve and risking a head-on collision.

At 6:05 twenty minutes after the first shooting occurred, Dalton called the requester, saying that he hadn't responded to her text and that he could not do the ride because "something had come up". One minute after the shooting, Dalton's Equinox was seen driving through a red traffic light at an intersection 1 mile away from the crime scene, it fled the scene, with the driver calling 9-1-1 to report the crash. At around the same time, a neighbor found the injured woman, soon treated by responding emergency personnel. On, Dalton met with his wife and children at his parents' home in Comstock Township, he explained to his wife that the Equinox had been sideswiped by a disgruntled taxi driver in a Chevrolet Impala, who fired a gunshot at him due to rage at having his business taken away by Uber. He assured her that he called Uber and they were handling the incident, he provided his wife with a 9 mm Taurus handgun, telling her it was not safe to be at the house without it. In addition, he instructed her not to go not to take their children to school.

Dalton attempted to leave in the Hummer H3, but it would not start, so he took the black Chevrolet HHR that his wife had been driving. As he left, he told his wife that he could not tell her what was going on, but that it would be on the news. After leaving, Dalton withdrew money from an automated teller machine at 6:44. After driving around for 35 minutes, he returned to his house and switched handguns, he left at 7:37 and continued accepting Uber requests, which he carried out without incident. None of the passengers he took noticed anything alarming about him; that night, at 8:26, Dalton called his wife and told her not to call her parents. At 10:01, the shooter arrived at a Kia dealership in Kalamazoo. According to a witness, after parking his car, the shooter approached her boyfriend and his father at 10:05, asked them what they were looking at. Before they could respond, he fired eighteen rounds, fatally striking both males. Other witnesses in a Burger King parking lot across the street recorded the shooter fleeing, one called 9-1-1 a minute after the shots were fired.

About ten minutes a third shooting occurred outside a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Texas Township, located about 5 miles (8.0