Police: Man pointed rifle at officers

A man who stole a police patrol car on Monday was pointing a semi-automatic rifle out of the vehicle’s window when he was shot dead by officers, police said at a Tuesday news conference.

The officer-involved shooting happened at 2:03 p.m. on West Eight Avenue, just east of Zuni Street near the Interstate 25 overpass, said Lt. Matt Clark.

Before the shooting, at 1:53 p.m., police responded to a 911 call about an attempted carjacking at the Car Wash USA Express Denver at 603 Santa Fe Drive, Clark said.

A man was vacuuming his vehicle when another man used a knife in an attempted carjacking. The attempt failed and the victim was not injured. Responding officers spotted a man nearby, in the 600 block of Kalamath Street, matching a description of the suspect.

Officers tried to engage and stop the suspect, including using a Taser, but he was unresponsive, Clark said. At 1:58 p.m., the suspect jumped into one of the responding officer’s parked patrol cars, which was running with the overhead lights on. The officer was out of the car, on foot, trying to stop the suspect.

The suspect drove off, eventually heading west on West Sixth Avenue, in heavy traffic, exited on northbound Federal Boulevard and turned east on West Eighth Avenue, Clark said.

During the incident, pursuing officers saw that the man driving the car was holding an AR-15 rifle, a weapon assigned to the officer whose car was stolen. At points, on West Eighth, pursuing police attempted to stop the stolen police car by bumping it with other police cars.

Police were eventually able to bump the stolen car to a stop on West Eighth just west of Interstate 25. The suspect remained in the car, holding the rifle, as approaching officers, who had guns drawn, gave commands, Clark said. The suspect pointed the rifle at officers, who fired at the suspect, hitting and killing him.

Three officers fired at the suspect, Clark said. One was a District 1 officer, hired in 2013, with one prior shooting incident on his record. The other two officers are from District 4, one hired in 2014 and the other in 2016; they have no prior shooting incidents.

All three officers have been placed on “modified duty,” Clark said.

The officer whose car was stolen should have had the rifle locked in the trunk or secured in a rack in the car, Clark said. He could face possible administrative discipline for failing to have the weapon secure.

The rifle was not loaded, Clark said. Ammunition to load the rifle, however, was in the patrol car.

The man who was shot has not been identified. An investigation is ongoing.