Denver Police Chase Ends In Shootout With Armed Suspect
Posted on
June 22,2023
Denver, Colorado — On June 7, 2023, at about 7:28 p.m., a ShotSpotter alert for a suspected shots-fired incident was dispatched for the area of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Cherry Street, according to Denver Police. Two police officers responded to the scene about two minutes later. A person matching a suspect description was found at 7:33 p.m. and fled on a scooter, while police pursued in their patrol vehicle. The pursuit later became a foot chase, ending at MLK Boulevard and Forest Street.
As the suspect was running, he turned towards the officer took the gun from a one-handed right-handed grip to a two-handed pistol style grip, and discharged the firearm at the uniformed officer, striking him once. The officer immediately returned fire, striking the suspect multiple times. Both the suspect and officer were transported to a hospital, where the suspect was hospitalized in critical condition and the police officer was treated and released. The suspect has since been released from the hospital and is in the custody of the Gilliam Youth Center.
Through the investigation, it was determined that the male suspect fired his handgun at least one time at the uniformed officer. The ShotSpotter system captured the exchange of gunfire between the officer and the subject, noting 10 rounds were fired at that time, and unloaded the officer's firearm, indicated he just charged his weapon 8 times. The firearm the suspect possessed was a Taurus 9 mm semiautomatic handgun. That firearm had a drum-style magazine which was capable of holding 50 rounds of 9 millimeter ammunition.
A shell casing that was recovered from the shooting scene, was forensically matched to the shell casings recovered at the original ShotSpotter location near Dexter St. The officer was struck one time by the round that was fired by the suspect and after close examination, it was determined that the round struck the magazine that was on the officer's duty belt, that he was wearing around his waist. It appears that either shrapnel from the magazine or fragment for the bullet impacted the officer's lower left abdomen side. The officer sustained significant bruise and pain from that impact.
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