Colorado shooter slays deputy in ‘ambush’ attack
DENVER, Colorado — Authorities in suburban Denver were investigating what led a 37-year-old man to fire more than 100 rounds in his apartment on sheriff’s deputies, killing one and injuring four others. Two civilians were also injured.
The Douglas County coroner identified the suspect as Matthew Riehl.
A YouTube user named Matthew Riehl posted a video on Dec 13, saying he wanted to replace Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock and railing against the sheriff and other officers in profane, highly personal terms.
The incident began around 5:15 am at Copper Canyon Apartments, a landscaped residential complex in Highland Ranch.
Authorities had left the home barely an hour earlier in response to a complaint of a “verbal disturbance” involving two men, the sheriff’s office said. One of the men told them the suspect “was acting bizarre and might be having a mental breakdown” but the deputies found no evidence of a crime.
When deputies were called back, a man who had left came by to give them a key and granted permission to enter the home, leaving again before shots were fired.
“The suspect was just making a ton of noise and annoying everyone around him,” Spurlock said.
Spurlock said deputies came under fire almost immediately and were shot “very, very quickly” after entering the apartment and trying to talk with the suspect, who was holed up inside a bedroom.
“They all went down almost within seconds of each other, so it was more of an ambush-type of attack on our officers,” Spurlock said. “He knew we were coming and we obviously let him know that we were there.”
The wounded deputies tried to pull the fallen officer, Zackari Parrish, out of the line of fire but were unable to because of their own injuries and only managed to “crawl to safety”, Spurlock said.
SWAT team
Four officers, including Parrish, were shot from a bedroom around 6 am, forcing the retreat. A SWAT team entered the apartment at about 7:30 am in an exchange of gunfire that left the gunman dead and another officer injured.
The suspect was well-known to authorities in the Denver area but had no criminal record, said Spurlock, who declined to name the shooter until his identity was confirmed.
Governor John Hickenlooper ordered flags on all public buildings immediately lowered to half-staff until Tuesday evening in Parrish’s honor.
US President Donald Trump expressed sorrow, writing on Twitter, “My deepest condolences to the victims of the terrible shooting in Douglas County @dcsheriff, and their families. We love our police and law enforcement — God Bless them all!”
It occurred on the final day of a year that saw the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history in Las Vegas.