WOOD TO MAKE COURT APPEARANCE
Man accused of shooting a Denver police officer has a long, violent criminal history.
A 36-year-old man accused of shooting a Denver police officer has a long, violent criminal history, including arrests for attempted homicide in a road-rage shooting, assault and kidnapping.
Jason Carl Wood is being held at Denver’s downtown jail on charges of attempted murder of Officer Tony Lopez Jr., and robbery in connection with a carjacking that followed Tuesday’s shootout.
Lopez remains in critical condition, and Thursday his family thanked first responders and the community for their support.
Police say Lopez was shot after pulling over the suspect on Federal Boulevard on Tuesday morning. Witnesses reported hearing dozens of shots fired.
Wood is being treated for a gunshot wound to his ankle. He was arrested Tuesday after a brief chase that followed a carjacking in the drive-through window of a US Bank on the 3400 block of West 38th Street.
Wood’s first court appearance is Friday at 10 a.m. Police say he was wanted on a warrant in a home invasion case.
Melinda Espinoza, 40, a person of interest in the case, turned herself in Wednesday afternoon. She was allegedly seen fleeing from the suspect’s vehicle.
Wood has a lengthy criminal history, including a 2011 conviction after he got spooked by “voices” and fired a shotgun into his bedroom door in a Westminster apartment at around 3 a.m.
The Denver Post reviewed Denver jail records, Adams County court documents, Northglenn police records and Colorado Bureau of Investigation records on Wood.
His first recorded arrest in adult court was in 1995, when he was 16. He was charged with under-aged drinking.
In 1997, Northglenn police arrested Wood for investigation of first-degree attempted murder, aggravated assault and marijuana possession.
The arrest followed a road-rage shooting. Wood was never charged with attempted murder in that case because police found no gunshot residue on his hand.
Less than two months later, Northglenn police arrested Wood on charges of first-degree trespassing, burglary and theft.
Lafayette police arrested Wood in 1998 on a charge of felony assault and menacing. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to 90 days in jail.
In November 1999 he was charged with forgery, possession of a concealed weapon and he later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of perjury and was sentenced to six months in jail.
He pleaded guilty to the 1997 trespassing charge in late 1999 and was sentenced to 18 months of community corrections.
He was sentenced to a year in prison Dec. 17, 1999, after he was convicted of attempted escape in Adams County.
In 2002, he was charged with second-degree kidnapping. He pleaded guilty to felony menacing and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.