Shooter targets lawmen, kills one
100 shots fired in Colorado attack
DENVER — A gunman fired more than 100 rounds at law enforcement officers in Colorado early Sunday, killing one and injuring four others before being fatally shot himself. Two civilians were also injured.
Killed in the attack was Zackari Parrish, a 29-yearold deputy who had worked for the Douglas County sheriff’s office for seven months, Sheriff Tony Spurlock said at an afternoon news conference. He described Parrish as a “smiley kid” who was eager to serve. He is survived by a wife and two young children.
Describing his meeting with the deputy’s widow, the sheriff said, “When I held her hand and looked in her eyes, I could see her life was over.”
Spurlock said the man has had encounters with law enforcement authorities in the area, though he had no criminal history.
Hours after the attack, numerous questions remained, including the public identification of the gunman, his motive, the type of weapon he used, what exactly happened leading up to the attack and where the officers were positioned in relation to the suspect.
The gunfire shattered a quiet morning at the Copper Canyon Apartments, which describes itself on its website as having some of the “friendliest apartments” in Highlands Ranch, Colo., about 15 miles south of Denver.
Sheriff’s deputies were first called to the apartment at 1:30 a.m. when a man
told officers that his roommate was acting bizarrely and might have been having a mental breakdown. The sheriff’s office said the officers left less than an hour later after determining that no one had committed a crime.
About four hours later, authorities were called for what was described as a “domestic disturbance,” the sheriff said. Four deputies who arrived within minutes of one another went inside after the suspect’s roommate, who had left the apartment, went back and gave the officers a key to get in, according to the sheriff’s office.
As outlined by the sheriff, what happened next was murky. The officers were talking to the suspect for about 30 minutes, and at some point the gunman barricaded himself in a bedroom.
“The suspect was just making a ton of noise and annoying everyone around him,” Spurlock said.
Parrish was shot multiple times. The other officers, who were hit in areas not covered by their protective vests, were in stable condition, the sheriff said.
The wounded officers tried to pull Parrish out of the line of further gunfire but were unable to because of their own injuries and only managed to “crawl to safety,” Spurlock said.
As the injured officers extricated themselves, the gunman continue to fire “for some time” until he was shot and killed by the officers, Spurlock said.
A SWAT team went inside the apartment around 7:30 a.m., the sheriff’s office said. The suspect was shot and killed, and an officer from another police department was injured during an exchange of gunfire.
The wounded officers are Michael Doyle, 28, Taylor Davis, 30, Jeff Pelle, 32, all of whom are sheriff’s deputies; and Tom O’Donnell, 41, an officer with the Castle Rock Police Department. All were listed in stable condition, Spurlock said. The gunman also shot two civilians, who suffered injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening.
Spurlock described what happened as “almost an ambush-type of attack” and said the gunman fired “very, very quickly” with a rifle, though it was unclear what type.
“He knew we were there, and he knew we were coming,” the sheriff said.
He predicted a prolonged investigation that would draw on footage from body cameras worn by the officers.
The sheriff did not release any details about the weapons and ammunition used in the attack, except to say the man had a rifle. He did not know whether law enforcement authorities had any previous knowledge of firearms being in the home but said the possibility always weighs on deputies’ minds.
“We respond to every call anticipating that everyone has a gun. This is Colorado. Everybody has a gun,” Spurlock said.
Family members of Pelle rushed from their homes in Northern Colorado to the hospital after getting word he had been shot.
Pelle was in visible pain when his family saw him in the intensive care unit after he emerged from surgery, his sister, Shanna Jessen, said in a phone interview. She said he seemed less concerned with his condition than with how his two young nephews had taken the news that their uncle had been shot.
Jessen described her younger brother as a broad-shouldered former football player who was “built like Superman” with a sensitive “marshmallow heart.”
Jessen said Pelle had been shot under the armpit and that the bullet had traveled down his torso to his hip. She said he was doing “remarkably well” after surgery.
He comes from a law enforcement family. Pelle’s father, Joe, is the longtime sheriff of Boulder County, Colo. Jessen said her brother has been in law enforcement for about seven years and has been looking forward to celebrating his fifth wedding anniversary on Tuesday.
Gov. John Hickenlooper ordered that flags on all public buildings be immediately lowered to half-staff until Tuesday evening in Parrish’s honor.
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!”
A resident of the apartment complex, Steven Silknitter, said he was trying to make his way past a police cordon Sunday morning when he heard what sounded like a fierce exchange of gunfire.
“Fifteen to 20 gunshots,” he said. “Return fire and then more fire.”
Silknitter, 50, described the apartment complex as a mix of families, couples and older residents and said neither he nor his fiancee, Vira Cover, had ever felt unsafe there or knew of any reports of violence.
“Highlands Ranch is one of the safest places in the Denver area,” said Cover, 50, who was on the sofa when she heard gunshots. “I cannot believe this happened in our backyard.”
Silknitter said he lived 2 miles away from the movie theater in Aurora, Colo., where 12 people were killed in a mass shooting in 2012. He said he never would have expected anything like this in his apartment complex, where the only noise he might normally hear is children running around upstairs.
“Where do I move to where I don’t have to worry about someone shooting us?” asked Silknitter, who said he is now considering getting a concealed weapons permit.