A funding campaign page has raised several thousand dollars for the family of a fallen parole officer killed in a hit-and-run crash near downtown Colorado Springs.

Officer Christine Guerin Sandoval died at UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central after sustaining injuries from being hit by the suspect vehicle Thursday. Guerin Sandoval was one of two female parole officers struck in the incident.

Out of privacy, police did not identify the second victim, who was treated for her injuries and released Thursday night.

The GoFundMe page, which launched Saturday, raised more than $8,000 of its $10,000 goal by Monday afternoon. The money will go to Guerin Sandoval’s family, according to page organizer Bethany Solano.

“Christine had a heart of gold and smile that would light up the darkest room,” Solano said on the page. “She was always thinking of other people and now it is our turn to help her beautiful family.”

Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Corrections Andre Stancil said Guerin Sandoval was a mother, daughter, wife and “protector.”

Guerin Sandoval also had previously worked with the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office.

“Christine took an oath, and that oath was to protect the citizens in the state of Colorado,”  Stancil said at a press conference Friday at the Police Operations Center in Colorado Springs. “She lost her life doing just that.”

Guerin Sandoval was one of three parole officers who attempted to contact 41-year-old suspect Justin Andrew Kula, “who was known to them,” and check on his welfare while parked in his vehicle Thursday. He struck two of the officers in an attempt to flee around 3:45 p.m. at the intersection of West Bijou and North Spruce streets, according to police.

Colorado Springs Police Department officers and other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies arrested Kula hours later after a wide-scale search. Kula faces charges of manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and third-degree assault on a peace officer.

Kula’s criminal history also includes assault, stalking, domestic violence, theft and fugitive from justice charges dating back to 2017, online court records show. In 2020 he was convicted of extortion, assaulting a peace officer, disorderly conduct across multiple incidents and received three to five years for each incident.

He received roughly one year in jail for a probation violation conviction in 2020.

Authorities are looking at “all possible charges, potentially even including murder or homicide,” according to Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen.

Click or tap here to access the GoFundMe donation page.