AURORA | A suspect who shot an Aurora police officer multiple times Thursday night was shot and killed Friday morning, ending a long, overnight-standoff in which a family of four was held hostage inside their own home.
The situation began Thursday as a traffic stop at Emporia and Dayton streets around 8:15 p.m.
While the police officer was approaching the red sedan, the gunman took off and the officer chased him into a nearby courtyard, said Aurora Police Sgt. Cassidee Carlson.
The gunman shot the officer several times in the leg and the officer fired back. The officer was taken to the hospital and has since been released.
The gunman then ran into a ground-floor condo where a man, woman and their 4-year-old and 8-year-old children live, Carlson said.
Officers swarmed into the area looking for the gunman and eventually investigators were able to get him on the phone, Carlson said.
During the negotiations, the suspect indicated that he had a loaded gun and wasn’t going to surrender peacefully, Carlson said.
“He stated that he intended to engage the police. He stated that he intend to go out shooting,” Carlson said. “He made statements … that his intention was a shootout with the police.”
Officers were able to track the approximate location of the suspect and narrowed it to the condos in that area. While officers were in the process of evacuating the residents in those condos, officers talked to a family who said that a man with a gun was holding them against their will, Carlson said.
“At this point, we were able to safely remove those four individuals. They are safe. They were unharmed,” Carlson said. “Very scary. The family was obviously very scared. They’re in shock.”
The gunman had barricaded himself in the back bedroom, Carlson said.
Nearby apartments were evacuated throughout the night as police negotiators continued talking to the gunman.
At around 7 a.m. SWAT officers threw in tear gas.
“Gas was introduced to try to get this male out -- so he wouldn’t harm himself or harm anyone else. He did come out of a window on a lower-level apartment and he had the gun. At that point, officers fired and the suspect was killed,” Carlson said.
The suspect’s name has not been released, but Carlson said he has a violent criminal history and had several warrants for his arrest. He was in his early 20s. It’s not clear if he was injured by the initial gunfight with the officer.
“Armed gunman blatantly shoots at the police, injuring a police officer, and on the run, taking a family of four hostage, and to walk out this way -- no public was harmed. Our officer is going to be OK. I think, in looking at the whole picture, we couldn’t have asked for a better outcome,” said Carlson.
The name of the injured officer has not been released.
Eastbound Colfax Avenue at Dayton Street was closed during the standoff. It has since reopened.
The incident was the second officer-involved shooting this week. An Aurora police sergeant shot and killed Daniel Montoya, 25, early Tuesday morning after Montoya took two hostages and fired a shot at officers near East First Avenue and South Sable Boulevard. The sergeant was wounded in the wrist but police said he is expected to survive.
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