Reactions from the families of those slain during the Chuck E. Cheese’s killings were as intense as they were different after Gov. John Hickenlooper announced he would halt the execution of Nathan Dunlap.

“The knife that’s been in my back … was just twisted by the governor,” said Bob Crowell on Wednesday after a conference call with Hickenlooper.

Crowell’s daughter, Sylvia, was among the four killed by Dunlap in December 1993 after the ex-employee hid in a bathroom until the children’s restaurant closed, then shot the five people working.

Hickenlooper contacted the families before his official announcement of an open-ended reprieve for Dunlap, 39, just three months before his scheduled execution in August.

“I don’t think its right that he sat in jail longer than my son was on Earth,” Sandi Rogers, mother of 17-year-old victim Ben Grant, said in an interview last week. “I’ve always felt if you are truly evil, then you need to not be on this planet.”

During his news conference, Hickenlooper said some family members expressed gratitude for his decision during the 20-minute conference call, but more shared “disappointment.”

“The justice system is broken,” Crowell said, visibly upset by the news. “We have a chicken governor, making us a chicken state, inviting all would-be murderers to come to Colorado.”

Crowell said he is not alone in his frustration with Hickenlooper’s decision.

“From what I heard on the phone, I would say that 90 percent of the people are for the execution,” Crowell said.

“Twelve jurors all said put him to death for what he has done, and the governor has turned that upside down.”

Jodie McNally-Damore, mother of 17-year-old victim Colleen O’Connor, said before Hickenlooper’s announcement that she had conflicting emotions about the death penalty.

“Putting him to death makes me queasy. I don’t know why,” McNally-Damore said. “But you have to wonder why he got so many years of appeals.”

McNally-Damore acknowledged Hickenlooper’s decision weighed heavily no matter the outcome.

“I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes for anything in the world,” she said. “What an incredible decision he has to make.”

Bruce Cain, stepfather of Bobby Stephens, the lone survivor of the Chuck E. Cheese killings, said Wednesday he was “fine” with Hickenlooper’s decision.

“I don’t believe in the death penalty,” Cain said. “If my son had died, and I believed in an eye for an eye, it would be my responsibility to kill (Dunlap), not a jury of 12 strangers.”

Stephens was shot in the face by Dunlap but survived by playing dead.

Cain said Dunlap should have been sentenced to life without parole to avoid all of the pain and anguish the families have been put through since the mid-1990s.

Before the governor’s announcement, Rogers met with him to tell him the case had gone on long enough, she said last week.

“This is a cold-blooded killer. He planned it, and he executed it, and now 19 years later, he still hasn’t paid for it,” Rogers said at the time. “That’s just wrong.”

Rogers could not be reached Wednesday for further comment but said previously the thought of Dunlap living out his life in prison bothered her deeply.

“The thought of (Dunlap) being granted clemency and being put in the general population where he can hang out with his homies scares me to death,” Rogers said. “It scares me to my core.”

The temporary reprieve ordered by Hickenlooper means Dunlap will continue to be housed in administrative segregation. Had the governor granted clemency, Dunlap could been sent to general population.

Rebecca Oakes, daughter of Margaret Kohlberg, the slain manager of Chuck E. Cheese’s, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Ryan Parker: 303-954-2409, rpakrer@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ryanparkerdp

Staff reporter Karen Augé contributed to this report.